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THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATION "The purpose of
education is to give to the body and to the soul all the beauty and all the
perfection of which they are capable." Plato I view education as one of
the most powerful and life-determining forces because of its broad,
all-encompassing purposes. To me, at the beginning of my teaching career, the
purpose of education seemed to be very close to what its meaning from Latin
represents: to lead/draw out the good, the beauty, the “hidden talent” that
is already inherent, to develop it, and allow it to bloom. As a music
teacher, building, training and
developing students’ musical knowledge and skills, discipline and devotion,
modeling their character and sharpening their mind, was enough to embrace education as a profession. Later on I
realized that there were other complexities
that needed to be added to this equation:
meaningful understanding, so that students could integrate/transfer previous/specific knowledge and skills in various subjects
areas and new situations. Subsequently, this would be equipping them to deal with reality and preparing them
for complete living. As a teacher, I would be called upon developing not only the
strengths that each individual brings, but the whole person in order to
function effectively in a world of a constant change and be productive
members of society. This insight added a new perspective to what I previously
believed to be the purpose of education. I realized that education does not
have one single overarching goal, but a number of them. THE ROLE OF TEACHER When asked
what they teach, a teacher will usually answer that they teach SK, primary,
etc., or that they teach music, mathematics, language arts or whatever their
teachable/division might be. I believe
the answer should be: “I teach children” because a teacher’s role does not
only consist of delivering the content of a subject and fulfilling curriculum
expectations, but helping students to develop their full potential. In order
to do so, teachers must be aware of different learning styles and needs their
students have, so they can target their teaching to suit these needs by
offering a variety of approaches that
make learning easily accessible to every single student. I would like
to point out what I consider to be the three major roles of a teacher:
leader/coach, manager and facilitator. Managing is very different from
leading. Managing focuses on control and perspicacity, while leading creates
the powerful focal point of motivation. The way I see a teacher pursuing his
role as leader is very different from what we generally understand from the
meaning of the word. In my opinion, a
teacher starts to build up classroom leadership the moment he/she provides
students with the following: ·
A
safe and empowering environment (physical safety is fundamental; intellectual
and emotional safety motivate). ·
Professional
and relevant, ready for practical use teaching-learning material
(professional materials are fundamental; relevant materials motivate). ·
Clear
and meaningful expectations (clear expectations are fundamental; meaningful
expectations motivate). ·
Fair
and varied assessment (fair assessment is fundamental; varied assessment
motivates). ·
Consistent
and reasonable consequences (consistency is fundamental; reasonableness
motivates). ·
Discipline
and respect (discipline is fundamental; nurturing respect motivates). Of course,
every teacher wants his/her students to have motivation to learn. Although motivation comes from within our
students, the creative strategies we use and the character we demonstrate to
our students (a teacher must be a fine example of wisdom, discipline, keen
intellect and justness of decision) can create within them additional desires/reasons
to learn. We have heard that we can
lead a horse to water but we can not make him drink. Yet we can learn from
wise farmers who know that if they salt the oats of a horse, it will want to
drink. We, as teachers, need to be the salt that causes students to want to
learn. Ultimately, I
perceive the teacher’s leading role more like a one that incorporates all of the aforementioned
foundations and enthusiastically, creatively practices/applies them. These
are in addition to efficient classroom management and viable facilitator
skills. I do not
picture the teacher as key/central figure in the classroom, even though
he/she seems to be one. The real power is within the students; therefore a
teacher must be mainly a facilitator. Moreover, I strongly believe in a
student centred classroom because it allows equity amongst the students
themselves. The classroom must be a democratic one, as well as the society in
which our students find themselves. My classroom, insofar as possible, would
be an intentionally led/couched one, which will nurture self-motivation and
self-discipline, produce engaged and synergistic learning, and ultimately
empower students. THE TEACHER AS AN ARTIST Every good teacher
can find several well supported arguments for what he/she understands by
effectiveness of his/her teaching. The way I personally would measure
effectiveness is through my formation as a musician and artist. Being a
musician and a teacher has been and will be the quintessence of my life; these two vocations have always been inextricable
for me and I feel that I went through a transformation where I became a
better teacher with my students, by inspiring them
and being constantly inspired by them. I always believed that a teacher must
be in a position to experience the student artistically, to see him as an
artist would. We, as teachers, must be able to enter more and more
into what is personal and individual because every child is different. In
order to do so, the teacher relation to the student must be absolutely true
and genuine. Moreover, I strongly believe that the teacher must treat
everyone with respect and kindness and inspire through love and passion; a
teacher as an artist should treat his/her students as though they already are what they can be, and help them to be
capable of becoming what they will
be. I surely would treat my students as a conductor would treat musicians in
his orchestra: ask them to cooperate with each other and only compete against
themselves. And because no art of any
kind can be mastered without humour, especially the art of dealing with human
beings, a part of the art of education should be the development of
friendliness and a love full of humour and fantasy for the students. As a conclusion to how I
view effectiveness in teaching, I would like to
quote what Bill Maughan said when asked what
personal benefits he derives from teaching: "my greatest accomplishment as an artist, when my life in mortality
comes to an end, will be measured by the lives I have influenced for good and
that I was instrumental in developing this great talent of art within so
many." October 4, 2004 |