Qualified Teaching - Essay Example


Qualified Teaching
Introduction
Education is a lot dependent on teachers. Teaching may not be the best paid profession but it has tremendous appeal for those who wish to take it up as a profession. And there are ways to improvise economically even in the teaching line. There are ways of doing it, such as increase fees with increasing demand and begin working online.
Teaching happens in many places. Earlier, it was normally confined to schools and universities. Now it happens more ubiquitously as this is the information age and students look for knowledge more than qualified teaching.
Qualified teaching
Qualified teaching naturally comes with graduation. Training to be teachers is imparted in colleges so the teachers are better prepared to face students the whole year round. However, now not all teachers are qualified. They may be graduates in different spheres of work areas. But nowadays, teachers abound in the area of their profession. An engineer could switch over to teaching science and mathematics. An accountant could start all over as teacher of economics, statistics and accounts.
Let us take the case of a teacher who specializes in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). In the beginning, it will be difficult to fathom the method or syllabus to be used for teaching the language. Actually, there will be no need for elaborate textbooks. It is possible to make do with one text book and one grammar book. There is also need for a text book that has basics as well as some exposure to advanced language. It is necessary to build a method. There will be students from diverse backgrounds. And each student will have his and her own knowledge level in the language to work from. It is necessary to go through several books on the subject. Finally, the teacher settles to one conversational textbook and a grammar textbook.
It is good if the conversational textbook has more information in it that needed. But it must be simple and clear in its presentation, and the first half of the book must consist of the needed texts. The other half must be exercises in conversational practice which the students could handle on their own and only reverting to the tutor for portions they do not understand. The grammar text books used in the fifth to seventh grades serve the purpose of teaching grammar. They covered the complete grammar portion.
Knowledge
Knowledge is the key ingredient in ESL. It is easy to teach ESL among non-graduates or undergraduates. But it is altogether different when it comes to teaching ESL to students who are appearing for management and PhD courses. The syllabuses for these studies are advanced and it is necessary to get an idea about these syllabuses so as to integrate ESL with the subjects taught for management and PhD.
The fees for teaching ESL to management and PhD students are naturally high. They may go up to four times the normal fees.
Online teaching
This is the information age. Online teaching has become the norm and not the exception. However, the teaching here involves addressing the complete needs of the students. It is not the chapter-by-chapter teaching involved in regular teaching. Students require the complete solution to a question or a problem. The remuneration is very high in online teaching. Conversely, there are penalties should the solution not meet with the student’s requirement.
Conclusion
Teaching is a noble profession. It involves discipline and knowledge. The teacher may not be qualified. But the teacher must keep abreast of the latest developments in the subjects he or she is teaching. The student must be able to digest the solution to the question. The teacher must develop skills that meet this purpose.
Sources:
Educational Services, Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor, http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs034.htm
Varian, Hal R; How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time, December 1994, Current version: 25 July 2009, http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~hal/Papers/how.pdf Read More