教学日: Promoting Authentic Professional Development & 学生的成功
安妮特·芬利-克劳斯怀特和托梅卡·威尔彻著
We invite you to attend the 教学日 on Sept. 17, and we thank the many presenters who have helped to generate a full schedule of intriguing topics. At the heart of this effort are professional development and student success.
安妮特·芬利-克劳斯怀特说: Authentic professional development is often discussed at pedagogical institutes and seminars. 但是它是什么呢?? We can conceptualize authentic development as continual professional growth in our personal role as teachers. 有趣的是, 除非一个人来自教育学院, most of us in academia were never offered a course in our disciplinary specializations on how to teach. That was certainly my experience as a historian. The first time I walked into a classroom - decades ago when I was a graduate student and given two survey history courses to teach on my own - I'm sure the word "pedagogy" was not even in my vocabulary. I just jumped in and hoped I didn't embarrass myself, which sadly, was not the case.
抛开我早期的失败不谈, what I had going for me as a teacher was a willingness to experiment in the classroom with learning techniques and strategies and a desire to understand student needs and challenges. 今天, while professional development in instructional pedagogy is not generally required of faculty members, it is available and can lead to significant career growth. 美国教育委员会, 例如, promotes investing in faculty development because research shows that that faculty who engage in professional development improve their students' learning outcomes. 教学是一种复杂的交流策略, and obviously the modes of instruction have changed over time, 但教师本身也是学习者, and there are great benefits to exploring new methods of engagement and trying new instructional modes of delivery. Considering how one has been changed by teaching, especially perhaps as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, is an interesting way for instructors to use metacognitive-reflective techniques to grow professionally. Thinking about the learning environments we create in our classrooms can also lead to experimentation that enhances student success. To me, being an "authentic teacher" means focusing on improving one's ability to help students learn.
托梅卡·威尔彻说: "Authentic teaching" goes beyond teaching content. It is creating a learning community that provides students with the skills and knowledge to learn more about themselves so that they can become change agents. 当我刚开始教书的时候, I was so focused on meeting standards or objectives and teaching a certain skill within a fixed time frame that I would minimize the relevance and the relationship components that are so essential to the learning process. 结果是, I realized that my students lacked the interest and motivation to learn what was being taught. I knew I had to change my approach, my content and my delivery. If I wanted my students to understand the content, they had to see the value in what was being taught. They needed that connection to the content to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for it, 技能和过程. Because I took the time to observe and listen to my students' wants and needs, I shifted my teaching and took an authentic approach.
虽然我改变了我的想法, 我也不得不改变我的教学方法, my curriculum and the content used to teach the curriculum. 这是一个循序渐进的过程，但这是值得的. 随着岁月的流逝, I realized that this process must constantly evolve because the needs of students and society are ever changing. 今天, 我问自己, “在这种社会政治气候下, 在这个社交媒体的时代, 随着就业市场的不断变化, where can my content help students find their place and their position?" As I create authentic learning experiences, I keep this question in the forefront. 它是我的基础，也是我的动力. Authentic teaching is not about forcing students to love something we feel deeply about. 是的, we want students to appreciate and understand what we have taken the time to study and research; however, 这需要时间, and students may not realize what they have learned until years after a class has ended. 因此, 在准备课程的瞬间, 我发现当我专注于积极倾听时, 剩余的灵活, 建立关系, and creating connections to what is being taught and what is being experienced outside the classroom, students can thrive and become more deeply aware of their own learning and my methods.
Dr. 安妮特·芬利·克劳斯怀特 is the Director of the 教师发展中心 and a professor of history. Dr. Tomeka Wilcher is the Educational Program Developer at the CFD.
