teachin ESP
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This document discusses ways to support teachers through the curriculum design process. It recommends orienting teachers with initial information through meetings or guides to prepare them for their roles. The information provided should address the context of the program, learners, other teachers, administrative processes, and instructional approaches. Ongoing support is also important and can include monitoring teaching quality, strategies for preventing teacher burnout, and opportunities for professional growth. The goal is to promote sound teaching practices through proper orientation, support, and institutionalizing teacher revitalization efforts.
teachin ESP
- 2. Members: Agus Setyawan AuliaNovi Hapsari Pipit Aprianti Sri SaharaLM Utty Testia Ningrum Vevi WulanSari
- 3. Definition of Teaching Teaching is a complex and controversial profession, and the education literature is full of teaching models that present varied conceptualizations of the nature of teaching
- 4. ORIENTING AND INVOLVING TEACHERS IN THE CURRICULUM The initial information that teachers get is an important part of the teaching element of curriculum development. Such initial information can take the form of an orientation meeting during which the basic information needed to perform adequately can be conveyed to teachers; or be delivered in the form of a written teacher's guide
- 5. Orientation Preferably before the instruction period begins, but certainly as soon as possi- ble, new teachers should be oriented to the language program in which they are working. Instructors who have already been teaching in the program for a while may also benefit from periodic reorientation-especially if the program has a dynamic, rapidly evolving curriculum. Such a meeting may take many forms. An orientation meeting might consist of nothing more than a one hour get-together during which the teachers are given the basic information they will need to accomplish their jobs
- 6. Teacher's Guide Unfortunately, it is impossible to predict which bits of information will be retained by which individuals, so it is a good idea for planners or administrators to prepare a handy guide or handbook containing all vital program information so that teachers can refer to it when they have questions
- 7. Reference Documents Other types of documents may serve as useful references for new teachers. For instance, in addition to the teacher's guide, copies of any needs analysis docu- ments might prove interesting to the teachers, particularly those documents that apply to the same course or skill area to which they have been assigned.
- 8. TYPES OF INFORMATION TEACHERS NEED Whether through orientation meetings, a teacher's guide, andlor resource docu- ments, certain information must be conveyed to new teachers. The administrators or planners must carefully consider what kinds of information to convey to new staff because it will have an impact on the entire curriculum in the form of how teachers initially feel about and carry out their work
- 9. Context of the Program If the curriculum is large-scale and for use in a public school setting, information might usefully be supplied about the national, state, or school district language policies, as well as their impact on teachers and teaching practices, parental atti- tudes and support, the school system and its operation vis-a-vis language pro- grams, the examination system, and materials (as well as how they are put into place and used).
- 10. learners New teachers will quite naturally be curious about the learners they will be teaching. Since groups of students can vary widely, curriculum designers should provide teachers with information that focuses on ways in which the students' characteristics are related to the design of the program and directly to the teaching.
- 11. Teachers Teachers are also interested in fellow teachers. The curriculum planners will have gathered important information about the kinds of teachers the program depends on. Teachers may differ in their individual teaching skills, in their atti- tudes toward teaching, in how they teach, in the demands that can be made on them, and so forth.
- 12. SUPPORTING TEACHERS Teaching is usually regarded as something that teachers do in order to bring about changes in learners. A central component of teaching is how teachers view their place in this process.
- 13. HELPING TEACHERS TO TEACH Willing (1985) suggests a number of exercises that enable teachers to explore these issues. Ultimately, all that a curriculum can do in terms of helping the instructors to teach is to ensure that they have everything they need in the way of resources and support because the ultimate responsibility for what occurs in the classroom will rest on their shoulders.
- 14. MONITORING TEACHERS Though it is often seen by teachers as something other than support, monitoring teachers' performance in the classroom can be a way of bolstering their efforts. Many teachers are defensive about monitoring of their teaching because such, supervision smacks of accountability.
- 15. Pennington and Brown (1991) include three indicators of excellence in all aspects of a language program: consistency, efficiency, and effectiveness. Similar to these categories, but with specific reference to classroom instruction alone, I will offer my own three categories to describe good teaching: consistent instruction, relevant instruction, and efficient instruction.
- 16. STUDENTS' EVALUATIONS As an administrator who has conducted hundreds of classroom observations (always announced in advance), I cannot help but wonder how it is possible that virtually all the lessons I see are so innovative and interesting.
- 17. REVITALIZING TEACHERS Teachers are also rumored to be living, breathing, creative human beings. Since they are human beings, they often have problems that may interfere with their work. Consequently, some provision should be made for helping teachers to feel upbeat and positive about what they are doing.
- 18. TEACHER BURNOUT Because teachers are human beings, they do not have infinite reserves of stamina; in fact, they may sometimes get tired and run down. Such a state of affairs can be symptomatic of what Grasse (1982: p. 4) describes as burnout, which she defines as "the exhaustion that results from excessive drain on a person's energy i and resources because of overwhelming problems.
- 19. GROWING AS A TEACHER As a remedy for the burnout problem, Grasse (1982, P. 5) suggests that teachers must adopt positive attitudes toward their subject matter, their students, their colleagues, the program, and themselves. She suggests that developing a positive attitude toward the subject matter may be accomplished by varying what I call techniques and exercises in this book, as well as the materials and courses taught.
- 20. SUMMARY This chapter explored a variety of ways that curriculum can be designed to pro- mote sound teaching practices within a program by properly orienting the teachers, giving them support as needed, monitoring the quality of instruction, and institutionalizing strategies for revitalizing teachers. It was argued that the purpose of orientation is to provide initial information to the teachers, especially when they are new to the program, and that ori- entation can take the form of a series of meetings or of a teachers' guide (and other reference documents), with the combination of the two being most effec- tive. In addition, examples were given of questions that teachers might want answered. These were presented in five categories: questions about the context of the program, about learners, about teachers, about administrative processes, and about instruction itself.