Why do teachers have major roles for creating a better world | montessori training kerala

Affra Schools Trivandrum
7 min readJun 10, 2021

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As someone with a teaching license who has also taught at the university level, I have always witnessed this offhanded dismissal of educators at all levels, and found it offensive. The comment reeks of someone who does not even have the slightest inclination of how educators are trained or what they actually do about the coaching in montessori training. Beyond this general ignorance of the reputable profession, there is a long-standing debate regarding what makes someone qualified to be a teacher from montessori teacher training, and more importantly, an excellent teacher. Some believe that years of real-world experience are needed for this. Others think that graduating from a teacher education program simply finishes the job. Still others think that simply passing a test from ttc in kerala is enough to demonstrate that someone is also qualified.

montessori teacher training

A few such so-called trained personnels even believe that public service, such as teaching, should be a mandatory requirement of all Indian citizens regardless of their training or interests. There are as many opinions about what makes someone qualified to be a teacher as there are people to have those opinions. Perhaps the best place to start when considering what qualifies someone to be an educator is the simplest debate between whether teachers should major in education or the subject they intend to teach in preschool teacher training?

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the national teaching program evaluation organization, believes that both rich subject area knowledge and an understanding of how to teach are irrevocably necessary for successful teaching. However, the logistics of balancing these two things is very challenging to consider. As someone who teaches in a teacher education program or teacher training in trivandrum, I am quite knowledgeable on the fact that the basic requirements for obtaining a teaching license from ttc in trivandrum are so extensive that education students often have little time for electives or to study abroad, let alone for a second major in the subject area they possibly intend to teach in. Further complicating this balancing act are those elementary teachers who will teach four, five, or six subjects parallely.

ICSE schools in trivandrum

Do they need to major in English, science (which one?)mathematics, civics, history, and elementary education ? Considering all of the skills and knowledge that a teacher needs prior to entering the classroom opens a window onto the complexity of this debate we have here. A close look at the possible things teachers could learn before entering the classroom of ICSE schools in trivandrum ranked in order of importance and a look at how this knowledge might be obtained for the better of all our points.

1. How to Teach

We have ranked this first because it is the most undervalued, yet most valuable aspect of teaching we are facing in international schools in kerala. When I teach instructional design for future teachers, I have fledgling designers explaining how to tie a shoe. That may sound easy, but ask someone to explain the process to you and do exactly, literally the same what they tell you and see how well the shoe gets tied. Instructing is both an art and a science that coexist. It is about an intangible feel for a situation blended with having a comprehensive view of where the learning should go and how to get there at the point.

teacher training in trivandrum

It is both a process and constant evaluation of that process for ttc in kerala. And it is something that is taught in education classes of teacher training in trivandrum. It is not, however, always something that is taught or often even modeled in the general higher education classroom nevertheless.

2. How to Learn

If you know how to teach and how to learn, you can teach almost anything given some time, motivation, and support as well. While there are certainly some things like quantum physics that someone with a general science education degree could not teach that easily, there is literally too little that an educated individual, with a science background, could not teach in high school or for ICSE schools in trivandrum if given the resources and support to learn it. In fact, if you consider the constantly changing nature of most subjects of the 21st century, even those who major in a subject will need to be constantly learning new material well throughout their careers. Knowing how to learn is an incredibly important skill for any teacher to possess and to use.

3. What to Teach

Subject matter, at least the basics, is extremely important for preschool admission also as that background knowledge forms the basis for all future learning in an area. Basically, everyone should have the fundamental understanding of everything in order to function and contribute to our society, but, particularly in the Internet Age, having specific detailed knowledge of a subject is not necessary enough. For someone in international schools in kerala who can research and learn, and has the basic background in a subject, too any specific topic that needs to be taught can be researched and, with some planning, taught effectively.

ttc in trivandrum

4. How to Design Instruction

Returning to the earlier idea that knowing how to teach is more important than knowing what to teach, the design of sound lessons, enrichment activities, and evaluation pieces is a top-level skill that all educators of ttc kerala should have and do develop in their area-specific educational methods classes.

5. How to Manage a Classroom

For anyone who has never taught, this may seem quite unimportant, but for those who have been on the front lines for various reasons, knowing the skills of successfully navigating the minefields of a diverse, disinterested, sometimes hostile, student population is essential to the core on ICSE schools in trivandrum. This is an entire discipline of its own that includes the natural elements of psychology, counseling, discipline, self-confidence training, and many other subtle arts in teacher training in trivandrum.

6. How to Advocate for Students

In a world that increasingly devalues education and children’s importance in the fast paced world, knowing how to be an advocate for every individual child who comes to school hungry or for all the students in an under-funded classroom is a skill that is essential, but seldom taught in any program in teacher training in trivandrum. Most often than not it is also something that must be learned on the fly, as issues are encountered, but could be taught as part of teacher education as well in ttc in trivandrum.

7. How to Advocate for Themselves

Teachers are constantly beaten down by a society that does not understand what they do, the challenges that they face, or the requirements and chores that have been forced over on them. Between accountability for students who are failing and the need to teach personal hygiene and advocate for students with home life problems, teachers mostly keep their mouths shut and take everything that is forced on them by the society. The teachers of montessori training rarely, if ever, advocate for themselves, despite a strong union and the misperception that they are coddled.

8. How to Engage Parents in the Learning Process

One of the most important contributors to student success is parental involvement in the learning process of montessori teacher training. The best teachers of teacher training in trivandrum instinctively reach out to parents and know how to draw them into a conversation about their child’s learning.

teacher training in trivandrum

Too many educators do not, and this is an essential skill that is rarely taught at all in teacher training in trivandrum and definitely not elsewhere.

9. How to Obtain Funding for Basic Classroom Needs

Much like advocating for their students, teachers also need to know that there are opportunities available outside of the normal channels for acquiring supplies, technology, and expert contributions to the classroom of preschool admission. Grant writing, schmoozing, and fundraising are all activities that are not customarily thought of as pertaining to teachers, but with continuing educational funding cuts, someone need to provide the resources that can enrich student learning in international schools in kerala and prepare them for the 21st Century, if society and politicians are going to neglect their responsibility to do so.

10. How to Inspire and Motivate Learners

This probably should have been further up the list naturally, but it rounds it out nicely as a skill that is inherent for some educators, but one that is also taught in teacher prep programs. It is also a skill that can’t be overvalued in a society where many people do not see the value of education of montessori training and are not interested in being engaged.

Looking back over this list, it is very clear to me that teacher preparation for the preschool admission should be exactly that — teacher education, or teaching people to be teachers. The Internet, and our rapidly evolving society make most subjects that could be learned as a major, outdated by the time the new teacher would get to apply it anyway they could. It is better to teach our teachers how to teach and how to learn for themselves than it is to teach them a finite amount of information that is quickly outdated these days.

montessori training

Our teachers essentially need to be cutting edge thinkers and learners, instructional designers, child advocates, activists, politicians, and motivational speakers. Many have these qualities naturally, but teacher education programs can, or should aim to cultivate them in the next generation of educators as much as possible.

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