Dilemmas in Teaching - Essay Example

Dilemmas in Teaching Name Professor Course Date Dilemmas in teaching Teaching is among the professions that for years have been subject to discussion as to why many people hold much preference for it. A number of people tend to view this profession on the positive side rather than through all its dimensions. Considerably, this profession involves many aspects that need to be put into consideration. Teaching has many dilemmas and teachers normally find themselves in predicaments that they can least explain. Most of the impasses in teaching come because of cultural indifferences among teachers and students, intellectual dissimilarities and the morality level of teachers and students. As a result, people have developed different perceptions regarding this profession, and this is greatly influencing their performance both on the positive and negative sense (Brown & Stephens, 2007, p.100). The aim of this research is thus to establish whether it is important for teachers to be culturally sensitive, intellectually capable and compassionate and morally responsible when practicing their profession. Students equally at their age face and create so many challenging situations that put teachers in dilemmas that they probably least know about. The research will therefore dwell on a number of aspects regarding these principles and their effects to both teachers and students. It will also encompass on how they can foster learning process in schools. In regards to personal opinion about this phenomenon, teachers need to be intellectually capable, culture sensitive, compassionate, and morally responsible. The role of teachers revolves around performing a variety of functions some of which are duties while others are responsibilities and one is obliged to perform them. Many people when making a decision on whether or not to become a teacher normally put various aspects into consideration. Some persons just choose teaching because they wish to interact with young people and mould in them some desirable characters and traits (Babbage, 2011). For others it is like family trend, one that a person adopts from childhood into adulthood following a particular family pattern that had initially been started by one of the members. Others just want to affect the future by changing the lives of students significantly, that is, training, and making them better and responsible men in the society. A recent research finding on why students prefer pursuing this profession revealed that persons having different profiles in the society are normally motivated by different reasons to pursue this career. For instance, a student who suffered from racism in school may choose to take up the teaching profession to fight this problem. In addition, some people are driven by both the altruistic and intrinsic values. In quest to seek self-actualization, as relayed by the Maslow’s hierarchy for needs, some people find themselves in the teaching profession despite having had other professions in mind. In this way, they affect and greatly influence the lives of students. Intellectual capability not only encompasses being brilliant, but also the ability to relay the information to students (Moseley et al, 2011). By being intellectually capable, a teacher needs to assess his intellectual strengths and weakness, alongside his professional limitations. A teacher, who is intellectually capable, will always strive to ensure that students fully understand the underlined concepts in their subjects. While this may be more of a duty, a teacher needs to take it up as a responsibility to ensure their students grasp and understands the concepts in their subjects. In the same line, teachers ought to be good actors; to a certain age of students, learning can be induced more by acting rather than plain words. An intellect must know the right way to reach the minds of students in a manner that the impacted knowledge will remain in their minds forever. Also, in regards to intellectual capability, a teacher ought to always remain calm and mentally alert at all times. Persons of low intelligence find it very difficult to join this profession since they are likely to stagnate. A teacher must thus be quick to adapt himself to any teaching environment and deliver the best of teaching services as long as he is intelligent and knowledgeable about his subject of choice. Cultural sensitivity on the other hand is a trait that a teacher needs to adopt depending on the teaching environment. This implies that they need to understand the demands of certain cultures and know how to relate with them effectively (Moseley et al, 2011). Being culture sensitive also enables the teachers to know the right approaches to use when addressing various needs brought forward by students. While culture sensitivity is almost considered imperative in this profession, some teachers still find it very difficult and cannot just adapt to new cultures. A teacher needs to be all rounded and capable of coping with any culture; this will help them teach their students without prejudice, and fully understand the right way to relay the information to them. Teachers also hold the responsibility of creating cultural awareness among students. This can be done through emphasizing mutual respect among them while stressing on the importance of each other’s culture. This will help them develop respect for one another irrespective of their ethical background and cultural affiliations. Similarly, they need to engage students in multi cultural activities to make them accept diversity as part of nature and accept one another. When in a multicultural classroom, a teacher needs to shed off old practices and modify their outlook (Glasgow et al, 2007, p.120). The teachers need to diverge into various cultures rather than just concentrating on a single culture to show their appreciation to various cultures. By adhering to these, a teacher can play a very important role in creating an environment for diversity and facilitation of cultural awareness. Consequently, being compassionate is more of a personal trait than a character. It is a good trait and can help people change the lives of others by just assisting them. In its literal meaning, compassion entails the ability to feel the pain of the needy and offer them both emotional and physical support. In the same regard, teachers need to be tolerant and understand that students are just human, and making mistakes is part of human development process. They should thus find proper means of addressing and dealing with student indiscipline cases rather than being ruthless to them. Students come from different backgrounds; some are rich while others are poor or average. It is a teachers mandate to support and encourage the weak-minded students. Compassion may also mean providing materialistic, emotional, and intellectual support to children who are not well off in the society. In this sense, the students stand a chance of greatly benefiting from the teachers. Compassion also goes handy with patience; this has more to do with self-discipline (Johnson & Harris, 2009). The teacher must be resilient and understand that teaching has great demands; in this case, he/ she must learn how to deal with the petty irritations that they are likely to face while teaching students. Carr in his book dealing with ethics and teaching argues that the nature of teaching is for moral endeavor, however in most cases it is overshadowed by the professional requirements of the extensive broad knowledge (Carr, 2010). Morality to almost a large extent is encouraged in every society. Moral character in a teacher can be imparted in a student through the regular class interactions. This implies that just by simply observing the manner in which a teacher carries himself, a student can develop some moral character that will help him/ her for life. Morality is all about having socially acceptable characters and a teacher must possess such before qualifying for the job. Influencing a person’s character may not be a very simple task, teachers thus need to be knowledgeable about this and know the best approach to give. The moral instructions of a teacher need to aim at sensitizing students towards the moral dimensions and give them insight on the nature of the teaching profession. This will thus help in cultivating willingness for them to employ reflective judgment on their side. Morality has always been considered rather a complex and ambiguous attribute and therefore demands a systematic approach when tackling its related issues. Conclusion From the above analysis, it is vital and paramount that a teacher be intellectually capable, culturally sensitive, and compassionate as well as morally responsible. These values are highly essential in the learning process and needs to be embraced in any learning environment. The intellectual capability enables the teachers to portray high levels of competency and capability in performing their functions. Cultural sensitivity makes them train students to appreciate one another irrespective of their races and ethical backgrounds (Lingenfelter & Lingenfelter, 2010, p.130). This is very important especially in the world that has become a global village and people from various cultures interact freely. Compassion and moral sensitivity is equally a noble quality. Compassion will help them understand the various student needs and fulfill them in the best way possible. These values will not only stand to benefit students, but the teacher too will greatly benefit. As they strive to reach their point of self-actualization, they will develop the core values that will foster success in their career. This discussion thus concludes that a teacher needs to hold intellectual capability, be culturally sensitive and finally posses the attributes of compassion and moral responsibility. The acceptance of these will help eliminate challenges and dilemmas that prevail in the teaching career. References Babbage, K. J. (2011). The dream and the reality of teaching: becoming the best teacher students ever had. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Education. Brown, J. E., & Stephens, E. C. (2007). United in diversity: using multicultural young adult literature in the classroom. Urbana, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English. Carr, D. (2010). Professionalism and ethics in teaching. London: Routledge. Glasgow, N. A., McNary, S. J., & Hicks, C. D. (2007). What successful teachers do in diverse classrooms: 71 research-based classroom strategies for new and veteran teachers. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press. Johnson, K. A., & Harris, S. R. (2009). Teaching literary research: challenges in a changing environment. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries. Lingenfelter, J., & Lingenfelter, S. G. (2010). Teaching cross-culturally: an incarnation model for learning and teaching. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic. Moseley, D., Baumfield, V., Elliott, J., Higgins, S., Miller, J., Newton, D. P., et al. (2011). Frameworks for Thinking a Handbook for Teaching and Learning.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Read More