Obstacles Faced in Teaching and How They Are Overcome - Essay Example

Running Head: Obstacles faced in Teaching Obstacles faced in Teaching Customer’s Name: Customer’s Course: Tutor’s Name: July 3, 2012 Introduction Teaching needs to be given respect as it is a profession that is at times demanding, challenging, time consuming stressful and at times exciting and rewarding. Teachers are faced by a number of obstacles in their teaching profession and these obstacles may hinder the effective delivery of their respective duties to the students. The obstacles that they face come in various shapes as well as sizes. A successful and efficient teacher is generally able to face and conquer the obstacles and maintain a positive, happy and joyful attitude. Teachers ought to be aware of the fact that the data and information they possess together with the skills do not affects learning instead their ability overcome the challenges posed to them in a positive way have a great impact on the learning and teaching . Some of the major challenges that teachers may face are related to but not limited to professionalism in teaching, motivation in learning and strategies in teaching. Nevertheless it is imperative to achieve a positive and prolific learning environment by implementing resolutions that will be of benefit to both the teacher and the student. Obstacles related to professionalism Like in any other profession teachers are also faced by certain professional obstacles. These obstacles at times hinder the overall performance of the teacher. Teachers are supposed to portray themselves a professional way as all times since most students are looking up at them to be examples. Professional teachers are said to have some characteristic s in common which distinguishes them from the others. One of the characteristic is that they are committed to the students in such a way that brings about a code of ethics to be followed, the teacher also have the ability to make routine activities as well as to make efficient decisions in complex situations (Slavin, 2009). A professional teacher should also be able to conduct self examination on his /her teaching for example by the use of reflective practice and should ensure that he undergoes continuous acquirement of professional knowledge so as to constantly develop, improve and expand the teaching methods in the aim of maximizing the learning environment (Hamzah, Hapidah & Ghorbhanic, 2008). One of the major obstacle that a teacher can face in relation to his profession is been asked a question that he does not know the answer to, since students basically look up on the teachers for them to provide the required knowledge a teachers is not supposed to portray a misunderstanding of a concept or at any instance show that he does not know the answer to the question been asked. Another major challenge that is faced by teachers is the need to rethink the current approaches towards professional development this will ensure that the teachers builds leadership capacities at all levels (Snowman, 2009). Teachers also need to ensure that there is continuous self evaluation so as to ensure that there are improvements in classrooms and also to ensure that the needs of all children are dealt with. Teachers need to have a continuous career development so as to ensure that they can bale able to deal with the current situation that are facing the schools today. Teacher can achieve this by enrolling in courses related to their areas of specialization so as to be more conversant with the concept that they are teaching in the classrooms (Hamzah, Hapidah & Ghorbhanic, 2008). Obstacles related to strategies in teaching Another major obstacle affecting the teachers is the use of the right strategy when teaching. This seems to be an obstacle since not all students find it easy to understand when a teacher is using a certain strategy when teaching. Based on the increasing number of students, the teaching strategies that can be applied in a particular class are many. Teachers can use various teaching strategies so as to ensure that the students understand the concepts been taught in class. In the modern day world students are expressing the need of integrating more industrial as well as practical examples in the classroom so as to ensure that the theories they have learnt in class can be applied in the real life situations. With the application of industrial attachments and practical, the theory will be more understand and students will be able to apply the concepts they have learnt in class. Despite the various teaching strategies that exist there exists a list of the commonly used and accepted strategies (Eggan & Kauchak, 2010). One of the most widely accepted teaching strategy is lecture method; this teaching method is widely used in various institutions and it has been found to be effective. The other commonly used teaching strategy is the use of case studies By their use the teacher is able to relate real life cases with what is been taught in the classroom (Slavin, 2009). Other teaching methods include class discussions and fields work. Each teaching strategy has its associated advantages and disadvantages. Based on the evaluation of the various teaching strategies that are available and that are applied in most institutions, a combination of the various methods can give adequate results in that when the various teaching methods are used interchangeable they will help in solving the drawbacks of the other methods, in that if student was not able to understand a concept when in was taught using the lecture method, the student may be able to grasp the concept it a life situation was used for example by the use of a case study related to a company that is familiar to the student thus effective teaching will eventually be achieved. Active learning needs to be applied so as to cater for almost the needs of all students in a particular classroom. Obstacles related to motivation One of the major obstacles faced by teachers in their teaching profession is engaging the unmotivated students in the classroom. Keeping all students motivated is an obstacle that all teachers will face now and in the coming future. Dealing is unmotivated students is really challenging and de-motivating. Most students who are unmotivated lacks the drive towards learning and unmotivated students inclination towards learning is basically derived from the academic and social factors that teachers must effectively address to meet teaching learning goals, course requirement or the teachers responsibility in contributing to the success of the student. A number of students enroll in school each year all over the globe some of these students are fully motivated, others are marginally ready while the other lot is unprepared. The unmotivated lot lacks the drive as well as the passion for education. This lot of individuals displays some levels of immaturity which leads to unclear definition of concepts or the difficulty in comprehending abstract concepts and ideas (Armstrong, 2010). The theory of multiple intelligence which was proposed by Gardener can be applied so as to address the learning problems and challenges that crops up when dealing with the unmotivated students gardener believes that we learn in different ways and that each of us have characteristically unique and dominant mode of learning for example those who are not excellent cognitive learners might be excellent psychomotor or visual learners. Beach 2010 also supports this by using differentiation instruction (Beach, 2010). By the use of these the teacher is able to address the multiple intelligences that affects students learning styles as the teacher designs the course syllabus that offers a variety of activities that cater for almost all learning styles as an option for students to learn the standards that are been taught in the classroom. Teachers facing this problem need to understand more of the student behaviors and values and how they affect learning and after these the teachers ought to develop certain activities that, strategies and will potentially affect these values and behaviors (Armstrong, 2010). Conclusion It is therefore evident that teacher are faced by various obstacles when performing their duties and effective ways of dealing with the obstacles need to brought into the scene so as to ease their work and to help them in focusing in their core duties. All members of the society need to give the teachers a helping hand and through these the level of obstacle faced by teachers will decrease to manageable levels and their main goals will be achieved. Parents need to ensure that they keep track of their children behavior and performance in schools and this will in one way make the teachers work easier. Teachers need to identify the unmotivated students so as to help them to ensure that they are performing as the others. Teachers also should eliminate the obstacle brought about by the use of a certain teaching strategy by using more than one strategy when teaching so as to override the drawbacks brought about by a certain method. And since teachers acts as role models to the students they should act in a professional way at all times. When all the obstacles facing the teachers are solved the teachers and the students will have a conducive learning environment which will lead to effective learning and teaching. References Armstrong, T. (2010). Multiple Intelligences. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.php Beach, T.A. (2010). Combining Methodologies in Differentiated Instruction in the Heterogeneous Classroom. SCMSA Journal, South Carolina Middle School Association, pp.1-7. Eggan, P. & Kauchak, D. (2010).Introduction to Teaching: Becoming a Professional (with MyEducationLab). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Eggen, P., & Kauchak, D. (2010). Educational psychology – Windows on classrooms (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Hamzah, M. S. G., Hapidah, M. & Ghorbhanic, M. R. (2008). Excellent Teachers Thinking Model: Implications for effective teaching. Australian Journal of Education .33(4), 11-27. Slavin, R. E. (2009). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice (9th ed.). New Jersey, USA: Pearson Education. Snowman, J. (Ed). (2009). Psychology: Applied to teaching (1st Australian ed.). Milton, Qld: John Wiley & Sons. Read More