Teachers need to advance their careers because it enhances their ability to instruct. Teachers in this school are also permitted to participate in seminars, workshops, and symposiums to enhance their classroom interactions and teaching strategies. The growth of professional learning communities at Touro College, which aids in teacher professional development, is a result of improved technology and knowledge development. A professional learning association always develops from various sources inside the setting of the school. Teachers give reports about their pupils, the curriculum, and the setback being examined in a professional learning community in this trained learning community. In education, the teachers are self-reflective experts and learn to transform from syllabus development to a thinking practice in the schooling context. The schools changed to self-evaluation where educators started themselves to progress learning in the faculties (Norwood, 2007). A group of teachers forms a trained learning community to support student learning within the school and outside the institute. The association usually entails a society of scholars as well as the aim of the cooperative research, which is characterized by understanding, shared beliefs, participation, and communication of the education fellowship. In most cases, the group has shared values and vision described by a purpose in an education context, and the common values propose a framework for making a teaching decision(Norwood, 2007).
My professional development entails collective responsibility, and teachers in our learning community share a joint reasonability for their students. These obligations in the association help in sustaining commitment to student learning in an education context. The learning society is also characterized by reflective professional inquiry, and the inquiry entails an insightful discussion about serious educational encounters or issues regarding the use of pioneering knowledge in a well-organized technique (Huffman and Jacobson, 2003).
The graduate program consists of the distinct operations of the educator commitment and the creation of teaching approach that make instructor teamwork complete, honest and constant that focuses on the exercises that improve learner learning processes. In this, the assumption made in the program is that the teacher's behavior out of the institute is used to expand the learning background in the institutes, and in turn affect teacher professional development and learning processes us in the tutorial room. Thus, the graduate program develops cooperative professional philosophies and concentration that focus on learning development.
In the program, the professionals ensure that the learning community is more of a conference formed to share information about learners' performances. These experts assemble to attain a common goal for the institute or result level. In most cases, the professionals respond to information collected instead of distributing the information that needs a lot of accountability and substituting teaching exercises. Finally, in the graduate program, a professional learning community concentrates on the actual learning in the classroom. Teachers continue to scrutinize instruction behavior thoughts like discussing issues affecting instructional outcomes instead of the directives itself.
In the Touro College program, a group of people forms the core of a professional learning group, and they stress on the group that supports academic learning within the school and outside the institution. The structure developed usually entails students, teachers, and other corporative gatherings. The professional group is characterized by a common objective, understanding, participation, and interaction with the learning group. In that, the association has shared values and vision described by a determination in an education setting, and the shared ethics provide an outline for making a teaching judgment (Strahan, 2003).
In addition to this, the community has a responsibility, and their responsibility is to ensure the proper learning of students within the institution. Whereby, the professional learning society in the college sustaining loyalty to student learning in an instructional context that intern promotes positive learning. The association also conducts a reflective professional inquiry where they conduct collective research to improve their students learning the process.
The professional learning community in the college entails the discrete performances of the educator interest and the creation of teaching method that make teacher collaboration exclusive, honest and continuous that centers on the exercises that advance student learning actions. In this case, the assumption is that the teacher's behavior outside the school is used to correct the learning set in the schools, which in turn effect teacher proficient development and learning measures used in the classroom. Thus, professional learning communities established in the program develop collaborative professional cultures that lead to teacher professional development.
In addition to this, the learning community also takes part in developing different structures that are used in conducting open discussions that contribute to teacher professional development. The groups are usually made to meet regularly to foster activities that meet regularly that encourage teamwork and free interaction in the school. Furthermore, these groups are an important sponsor of educational planning together with teaching improvement (Little 2001). The professional learning community in the program forms interactive subject in the professional community, which contributes to professional development among the teachers. Some these activities include a capacity building that motivates teacher discussion and sharing of ideas.
Teaching Philosophy
According to Mayer (2001), learning is a progression by increasing our intelligence because of the different experiences one undergoes in life. In most cases, the learners tend to learn because of what they are introduced to, and what they attempt to emulate. Learning is also a procedure of innovation, where the surroundings stimulate a person's intelligence to create associations of neurons to construct repeatedly opinions in people's minds.
I believe that each learner is different from other learners in a school setting despite their physical nature, in that the student is unique and needs a well-organized, stimulating, and caring environment to interpret proper learning, emotional, intellectual, societal, and economic growth. My role as an educationist is to help my learners meet their potential areas of interest. These important areas can be achieved by giving the learners a teaching-learning environment that is conducive to effective learning, support them to disclose information, and motivates them to take chances while learning.
I believe that the basic elements that are conducive to a good learning environment include the following. By allowing learners to learn on their own, the teacher being the source of knowledge, and learners conducting research to obtain more knowledge using the instructor's guidelines. The educator's role in education is to equip students with information. The students' role, on the other hand, is to determine knowledge using the guidelines the teacher presents. Here, learners learn by themselves, and the teacher applies learner-centered activities in the classroom. Finally, in this context, students own the curriculum making them feel motivated. Finally, students tend to gather more knowledge as they take part in the learning process.
I believe that the teacher's role is to assist the learners to develop a deep love for the learning content. The teacher can achieve this through open classroom discussion encouraging students to speak about their views freely. The approach allows space for each learner to be heard. The best method for this approach is to construct classroom discussion and encourage frequent classroom meetings. When the students feel safe and free to discuss their problems, they will love the teachers, the school, lessons presented to them and the whole class as well as the community.
The entire classroom represents an exceptional society of learners that are different from one another not only in their ways of doing things but also in teaching learning styles. My responsibility as a teacher is to provide the learners the materials that can be used to develop their own grounds of knowledge. To achieve this objective, I will educate to the requirements of each learner, so that all students can sense competent and triumphant. I will hand over the syllabus that involves the good of the learners and makes teaching-learning process applicable to their real-life situations. I will slot in central ideas, incorporate projects, group work, units, original work, and practical learning to make the learners be involved the teaching-learning process. Categorically, I will bind teaching and learning process into the society to assist learners to turn out to be caring and enthusiastic community members.
I will develop a learning environment that is the compassionate, secure, and impartial environment where every learner can flourish and develop intellectually. I will allow learners to turn out to be conscientious members of the learning environment, and the society by using approaches such as class gatherings, encouraging discipline, and designated principles. In elaborating to the learners how to turn into conscientious people as well as their own educational development, I am providing them the ways that make them turn out to be successful individuals in life.
Education is an enduring education process of teaching and learning about recent philosophies and new teaching-learning approaches, knowledge from the learners' parents and the society where they come from, obtaining information from the collective group, and mainly learning from colleagues. Learners in my classroom have helped me as a teacher to consider them as different people with different intentions from different environments. This has made me treat them as distinct individuals that require my attention during the teaching-learning process.
Finally, as an educationist, I believe teaching learning process gives an occasion for recurrent teaching and learning as well as learners development. My aspirations as an educationalist are to inspire a positive attitude in learning among my learners, as I contribute to my own infatuation for teaching and learning with the learners. I believe there is a call for empathetic, well-built, and devoted persons who are eager for effective teaching of these students. Within the economical difficult community, it is significant for the learners to be providing with good education, and to work with somebody who is conscious of the learner's personal development as well as needs.
Practicum Observation Lessons
Classroom assessments during classroom activities have become a problem for most teachers who take part in the assessment process. Traditionally, teachers have been asking questions as a form of evaluation during the teaching and learning process. Teacher developed practicing test can be used to improve the teaching process and help the learners interact with the content. Classroom-based assessment has been used interchangeably as the formative appraisal because teachers use it as a priority during instruction. Lee and Lee (2009) describe classroom assessment as both formative and summative evaluation because they occur every day during the lesson. The teachers together with the students are the main participants in the classroom activity, the appraisal also comprises of a broad range of examinations like formal interior tests and informal external assessments. Lastly, the information the teachers gathers is based on formative and summative reasons.
During instructions, teachers observe their learners using different methods. These teachers are described as agents of evaluation because they use classroom-based tests to assess the performance of their pupils and they used as a formative assessment that promotes language learning. The assessments used in the classroom are also significant because instructors assume dual accountability of the mentor and the evaluator.
The process of classroom assessment entails designing, gathering, deciphering, and using knowledge about student knowledge and attainment to make classroom-learning conclusions. These tests developed by the teachers are of high-level and provide understanding on what and how students are acquiring knowledge imparted in the classroom. The assessment allows the instructor to measure a wide area of content taught and certify the development of diverse skills. Apart from this, the tests provide the learners with new duties in the assessment technique that can make depth itself a studying procedure that includes and extend student affiliation in the content depicted.
Strengthen of Classroom-Based Assessments
Classroom assessments are performance-based evaluation constructed based on classroom instruction and the learning activities. The teachers can also use the tests to assess the learners learning proficiency, as well as academic attainments. Furthermore, different types of evaluation can be used in the classroom, and they include oral reports, protests, written tasks, or student collections. Finally, grading rubrics and observation checklists can be used to evaluate and grade the students. Furthermore, the classroom tests are suitable for improving instruction and enhancing the learning skills presented in the classroom. Most of the time, the teachers use these measurement methods in their daily teaching activities in their classrooms. In the same way, learners can also take part in their assessment to improve their learning.
Andrade and Valtcheva (2009) the classroom-based assessment does improve students' learning because the teacher makes the process an integral part of learning. Apart from this best classroom assessment, also provide teachers information about the students' performance, which helps them identify areas taught well and areas that require more attention. The timeless results of the assessment allow the teachers to adjust their teaching process first and improve their teaching process. Vergis and Hardy (2007) notes that students assessed using classroom-based assessment gain from the assessment and improve their learning abilities. A more detailed understanding of students' performance can be obtained from the assessments.
Weakness of Classroom-Based Assessments
Classroom assessment might be overdone during classroom activities, which in turn might turn out to be unnecessary to the various learning issues being assessed in the classroom. Several frequent classroom tests might affect the assessment process, which might not give the teacher the correct learning outcomes among the students. The teacher also needs to establish clear measurable criteria for the students in the classroom and communicate to the students before the tests. The teacher also needs to take care and ensure that the learners really need the assessment. Thus, the teacher needs to set clear standards must be acknowledged as well as the stage of assistance permitted all through the measurement process. During observation in the classroom, the teacher needs to ensure that execution methods are well known and that a systematic process for documenting the evidence displayed is well organized.
My professor recommended that Instructional or guiding objectives must be recognized while forming the classroom-assessment. The objectives of the tests give objective during teaching, and they offer a way of examining whether the teacher has achieved what he or she intended to teach. The purposes also present benchmarks for measuring students' achievement in the teaching area as they take part in the learning of various skills. Thus, the classroom assessment used in the classroom must be based on the instructional objectives prepared by the teacher. In addition to this, the professor noted that instructional goals guide the teacher in the preparation of the tests to determine whether the tests are effective.
Teachers also use the instructional methods to estimate the classroom assessment. Some of the techniques that can be used in estimating these teaching methods include teaching actions and methods the teacher use while teaching the different skill. Instruction exercises can also affect the type of teaching methods used in the classroom. Thus, it is important to assess the type of classroom projects that affect the learning method. Classroom assessment, therefore, recognizes the type of classroom exercises the teachers use during the teaching process.
The professor notes that self-assessment inspires students' awareness, behavior, and interaction during teaching. It is important to allow students to perform their own classroom-assessment through self-assessment while in the classroom. Self-assessment is a lifelong process that students must acquire for their learning skills. In addition to this, self-assessment is a formative appraisal process that allows learners to obtain feedback on their studying process. Through the evaluation, the students become self-governing when presents to self-assessment avoid depending so much on the teacher. Instructor and peer-based assessment can also enhance the development of self-assessment in the classroom. Finally, the teachers who offer a suitable learning setting motivate learners in taking part in self-assessment processes.
The professor also suggested peer appraisal in the classroom as a form of stimulating learning among the learners. The assessment process is also a kind of formative assessment used to establish measures that require improvement during teaching and learning process. In the measurements, the teacher is allowed to select suitable teaching techniques for their learners. Feedback obtained from the assessment can be used to provide information about the learners. The information can also be used to classify or correct mistakes, provide feedback on the teaching process, difficult explanations, or clarity of interaction. Peer assessment leads to the cognitive development of learners in the classroom. The learners can also get encouraged by studying their fellow learner's work. Finally, peer assessment is not only measurement technique, but also an instructional technique because the progression improves the abilities of both the teacher and the learners.
The Problems Facing New Teachers
The new teachers get into the teaching profession with a wide range of problems, and this includes motivations, experience, as well as different preparation levels. Most of these teachers enter the classroom with many expectations for their learners and for themselves. The early years of teaching have been described as the year of survival because the new teachers strive to survive in the profession. The new teachers are expected to assume all responsibility in the school and are expected to take the most challenging situations in the school, and the experienced teachers are not always willing to help these teachers adapt into the teaching system. Most of the support teaching programs mainly focus on the teachers who enter the class, and even the most well-prepared instructors still need assistance in the profession.
The problems most teachers experience include discipline, support, and classroom management. In most schools, teachers do not have established orientation programs for their new teachers. These schools do not prove for the new teacher school strategies and procedures in writing. Some of these schools do not have an assigned mentor teacher who will provide guidance as they take part in their daily activities (Fry, 2007).
Classroom control is the biggest difficulty the teachers face in the school immediately they start teaching. Most of these teachers find it exciting to deal with conduct problems (Fry, 2007). Teachers with three years' experience will always manage to deal with behavior dilemmas in the classroom compared to the new teachers. Most new teachers indicate a problem with challenging children and they do not have the experience to deal with extreme behavior challenges that arise in the classroom (Fry, 2007).
The new teachers lack leadership and sources for lesson planning (McCormack, Gore, and Thomas, 2006). Most schools do not provide teachers with instructional materials, as well as lesson planning materials. Lack of these materials makes the teachers face challenges while implementing the curriculum. Fry (2007) has indicated in his study that novice teachers experience challenges while implementing the curriculum, and they spend a lot of time just planning for the lessons (Fry, 2007). Apart from this, these teachers might have problems in the instruction and assessment procedures.
The new teachers experience challenges when they have to find their place in the new school social structure. They usually experience the need of getting proper housing, and these affect their relationship with the new people they meet in the schools. Therefore, to have well-developed teachers in a school, the mentors need to assist the teachers as they get used to the new environment.
Creating a positive relationship with the students is a challenge for most of these new teachers. These new teachers need a strong instructional program that will help in building a positive relationship with their learners. The teachers need to create a lot of time in modeling behavior and interact with their learners in the classroom. Finally, these teachers need to spend a lot of time designing active, attractive, and thought-provoking lessons.
Apart from this, these new teachers find it challenging to know their students, and understand the type of learners he or she is going to deal with the whole term. The new teachers also find it challenging in using his knowledge of the teaching context. Furthermore, the college curriculum does not introduce the teacher students to the school curriculum making it challenging to fit in the school context.
Strategies Used To Help the New Teachers
The school administrators need to help the new teachers find good mentors that provide proper guidance to the teaching profession. The school can also develop mentorship programs for the new teachers to provide guidance and proper induction. The head teacher and the head of the department should ensure that they balance the new teacher workload to avoid stressing the new teacher and giving difficult challenges.
The administration should help in managing disciplinary issues to avoid conflicts and misunderstanding between the teacher and the students. Moreover, the instructors need to make part of the teaching team that centers on student cognitive development as well as social development. Huffman and Jacobson (2003) notes that the administration can organize mediation plans for the new teachers by carrying out a needs evaluation to determine the real requirements of the learners. They can also help the new teachers in creating the content to be taught according to these needs, as well as taking part in selecting appropriate teaching methodology to be used in the classroom.
The new instructor will then be assisted in conducting an assessment to help in getting areas that require improvement, which in turn extends into effective teaching and learning in the classroom. Furthermore, the intervention program will help the new instructors in offering teaching materials designed for the level of the students in the classroom. Apart from this, the beginning teachers will conduct research-based teaching activities in the classroom to proof the different levels of intellect shown in the classroom. Finally, the new teachers can develop assessment skills used in the classroom using the intervention program.
Conclusion
Professional development is essential in the educational setting because it assists the teacher to continue improving their teaching skills inside the school. At the Touro College, various professional learning associations support in promoting teacher professional growth. In this community, educators with related specialization gather to review and expand their own knowledge as a kind of professional advancement. The paper also presented classroom-based assessment as a practical observation in the classroom. The classroom-based evaluations are necessary because they assist the instructor in recognizing areas that need revision and reformations. Finally, the paper presented the difficulties new teachers encounter when they start practicing. It also presented some of the procedures that can be used to overcome these difficulties. More inquiry should be carried out on the different interventions that support the new instructors.
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