Teachers have one of the most important and influential jobs. They are in charge of preparing people for life. They provide knowledge for students, which they will use to shape their lives and the lives of others. The teacher must know how to behave in an educational setting by providing the best learning environment possible. To help accomplish this goal there are guidelines called Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement (TESA).
TESA lists fifteen interactions that should be abided by the teachers: Equitable Distribution of Response Opportunity, which makes sure that every student has a chance to interact with the teacher. Praise for the Learning Performance is a form of a reward that students receive. It must be reassuring and supportive of future tasks; Courtesy is the ethical behavior towards students. A teacher must be respectful and polite, which has most definitely been accomplished; Latency is the provision of sufficient time for a student to work and respond. This point has been addressed by equal amounts of time for each person’s assignment; Reasons for Praise is the quality of the advice, which helps the student’s performance. Detailed note-taking, while each student responds to the questions or topic, has provided for this aspect of interaction; Delving, Rephrasing, Giving Clues pertains to the teacher’s responses to students. A form divided into categories will improve the specificity and quality of comments; Listening is crucial, as it makes the student realize that their work is important and so quiet and comfortable conditions must be set in place; Touching must be appropriate but in reality, it is avoided most of the time; Higher-Level Questioning makes the students analyze the information and so in-depth questions are usually asked; Accepting Feelings is the respect of each person’s emotions and character, which was accomplished by attentive listening and reflection.
A kind and respectful manner of teaching will facilitate learning. Students will feel the support of the teacher and will be inclined to ask questions and search for new understanding and knowledge. Visual aids, an interactive environment, and assignments based on personal interests will make a positive learning experience.
Well done points:
- Equitable Distribution of Response Opportunity, which makes sure that every student has a chance to interact with the teacher. This is a strong point personally and this has been accomplished through the division of class time into equal sections where every person has time to express their thoughts and ideas;
- Affirmation or Correction deals with the feedback that is given to the students. This is also done well, as the prior training in child and developmental psychology has helped to develop a positive technique of correction and advice (Nash 24). Each student is given a sheet with the outline of the positives and advice for improvement;
- Individual Helping is important because everyone is different. This has been done rather well, as there are regular classes, which are devoted to some one-on-one time where a task is given to the whole classroom and the teacher comes up to each student and has an interaction while the rest keep working on the assignment;
Need improvement:
- Proximity is the physical closeness to the students. It is a personal goal to make sure that those who need support can feel the presence of the teacher, thus feeling more confident. This criterion needs some improvement. One of the ways is to rearrange the classroom space so that it would be easier to walk around and deal with the students closer;
- Personal Interest Statements and Compliments relate to the individuality of the student and their interests in the topic. Unfortunately, this needs more work. The amount of learning material is rather extensive and often there is not enough time to get to know personal interests. But this can be accomplished by essays where students write about their interests or assignments with free choice of themes and a link to the course material;
- Desisting is the courteous control of misbehaving students. This needs more attention by separating the classroom into study areas where a person could go and reflect on their behavior. It should be somewhat divided from the rest of the classroom so that the interaction with others is limited (Partin 79).
Works Cited
Nash, Roy. Teacher Expectations and Pupil Learning, Boston, Massachusetts: Routledge, 2012. Print.
Partin, Ronald. The Classroom Teacher’s Survival Guide, San Francisco, California: John Wiley & Sons, 2009. Print.