Adult Education Self-Reflection - Essay Example

Adult education self reflection Teaching entails the process of administering knowledge to a learner. Teaching is an important factor in human life, which is practiced to every member of the society who has an interest in developing knowledge on certain concepts of life. In the contemporary world, teachings are practiced in various institutions in the society. These include the social, economical, and political social settings. The dispensers of knowledge are the people who we refer to as the teachers. Teachers are responsible for providing direction and highlighting the requisite elements of learning a concept. Therefore, teachers play a central role in the process of learning. The most stressed form of teaching is the child education characterizing the social and economic structures of most societies. However, learning continues into adulthood. Therefore, since teaching is a practice that can be administered to every member of the society, the learners can be categorized into two broad groups, which are the young learners and the adult learners. Recognition of these two distinct groups of learners brings us to the juncture of understanding the context of adult teaching and learning (Griff, 2008 p.120). Introduction Adult learning is a phrase describing the type of learning administered to adult members of the society. The adult learning settings could include places like institutions of higher learning, work places, and any other setting where administration of knowledge is happening. As it is understood from the basic principles that the purpose of administering knowledge is to instill some principles concerning a social, political, or economic concept into the learner, it can be understood that learning has to be carried in a systematic manner that will facilitate optimum understanding of an underlying concept by the learner. It is undeniable that adult learners require different tools and techniques in order to learn, compared to their young counterparts (Pete & Alisa, 2010 p.48). Therefore, adult teachers are expected to acknowledge this fact and develop suitable mechanisms and techniques of achieving the objectives of adult learning efficiently. During their trainings as adult teachers, these individuals will be expected to master the principles guiding adult learning. Once in the field, these teachers are expected to articulate the knowledge into their expertise. To check the application of these ideal principles in their duties, the adult teachers evaluate themselves by the use of self-reflective inventories. Now, it will be logical to postulate that the process of effectively dispensing knowledge to adults has to follow some formulated set of standards, which must be adhered to by the teachers in order to achieve the objectives of the exercise. Self-Assessment inventory is a tool used to evaluate or gauge someone’s adherence to some guiding or ideal principles in the course of duty. In this context, self-assessment inventories are formulated questionnaire papers used by adult teachers to gauge their professionals in their teaching duty. Since a teacher who sticks to the practice of ideal teaching principles can only attain optimal adult teaching, it is advisable for every tutor to ensure close inclination of these principles as much as possible. Therefore, teachers use the inventories to evaluate their position in reference to the standard teaching requirements. These inventories are usually made of open or wide range close-ended questionnaires. During evaluation exercises, a teacher is supposed to respond to the open-ended questions as honestly as possible. Upon completion of responds, the teacher will evaluate his/her position by comparing the questionnaires responses with the expected standards of teaching. Self-evaluation will unearth the teacher’s weaknesses and strengths in his/her duty. Having acquired the knowledge concerning strengths and weaknesses, a teacher will react by developing control mechanism that will ensure professional performance of his/her duties as an adult learner (Griff, 2008 p.130). After thorough self-evaluation of professional expertise, a teacher may want to reflect his/her position with the four major questions. These questions are 1) what are important to the learners. 2) What is important to me as a teacher? 3) What is important to the employing organization? In addition, the last one is what is important to then society in general? These questions will enable a teacher to apply the developed control mechanism into responding to the strengths and weaknesses highlighted by the inventory results categorically. The teacher will begin by evaluating the important elements of adult learning to all the four involved parties. Upon evaluation, the teacher will appraise the deviation of his/her teaching principles with the ideal principles. A teacher has to highlight the important elements of each party and device methods of responsively articulating it into his/her duties (Griff, 2008 p.63). The purpose of teaching is to enhance development of substantial knowledge of the learners concerning the concept in subject. Therefore, the most important elements of education or learning to the students is to realize a difference of their intellectual capacity and knowledge concerning the subject matter. The most important aspects of learning to a student are concerning the teacher and the learning environment. Learners are mostly concerned with the learning environment created during the process of studying. The students need a suitable environment that will facilitate the attainment of their learning goals. The environment may include the situation created by a teacher during lessons and the general integration of the class members to device the most appropriate learning context. In the context of a teacher, learners expect a teacher to conduct his/her duties in a professional manner without breaching any ethical concerns of the teaching guidelines (Pete & Alisa, 2010 p.30). Based on the learners’ expectations, a teacher should be in a position to respond to their requirements appropriately. A teacher will have to identify his/her situational practices concerning environment setting in a classroom. The teacher will check into his/her teaching styles concerning the setting of appropriate learning contexts in any concept. For example, a teacher should be in a position to create efficient group discussions in class. In addition, a teacher should organize his/her class in a manner that will ensure maximum coverage of any concept being learned (Pete & Alisa, 2010 p.60). In case of practical activities, the teacher will have to arrange the students in a manner that will ensure maximum participation of every individual learner. In the issue of teacher’s behavior, a teacher has to understand the cultural background of the students before even beginning to teach them. Acknowledging the cultural aspects of the students will help the teacher in knowing their values and philosophical principles. Conversely, it is pertinent for a teacher to know his/her philosophical principles. Knowledge on ones philosophical standing will allow a teacher to regulate the influence caused by the beliefs to his/her duties as a teacher (Griff, 2008 p.84). The other important aspect is concerning the expectations of a teacher towards the learners. Since every teacher has some expectations on the students, a teacher should be in a position to inform all the learners of his/her expectations on them. This will enable the attainment of harmonized relationship between the learners and the students. Some of the expectations include the completion of assignments on time or the students carrying out further research of a concept learned in class. Understanding of the important elements to the teacher by the learners will enable them to conform to then teaching methods and techniques employed by the teacher in class. Some of the methods than can be applied by a teacher may include discussion groups or classroom presentations. If the students understand the most important teaching principles employed by a teacher, they will respond accordingly to any directions provided, hence this will improve their learning habits in class (Griff, 2008 p.149). The other important area of focus that should be of interest to a teacher should be on the important aspects of the organization. In is undeniable that every organization, whether social, political or economical is guided by a mission statement, that warrant better understanding by the employees. In this regard, every teacher must conduct his/her duties in a manner that will merge the objectives of the organization under which he/she is working. Upon the self-reflection from the assessment inventory, a teacher should be in a position to identify his/her practices with reference to the objectives and ethical conducts of the subject institution (Griff, 2008 p.127). Having acknowledged his/her position in relation to the organizations position, a teacher will respond to any outstanding deviation by developing the appropriate mechanism. An example of a deviation that may emerge from the self-assessment may be on the student assessment practices used by a teacher. An organization may be advocating for weekly assessment of students on concepts learned over that week. On the other hand, a teacher may be conducting assessment exercises after every second week. In this case, the teacher will correct this situation by adopting the organization’s principles. The last part is concerning the society’s expectation on the process of adult learning. Typically, every society expects that adult education to improve the learner’s ability to contribute considerable to the same society. Therefore, a teacher may consider checking his/her position concerning the most important social aspects of learning. For example, a society expects that an educated adult should be more resourceful and civilized that the other uneducated members of the same society. In this case, a teacher may respond to this expectation by structuring teaching styles that will enable a student to develop in the most important aspects of human life like the communication and leadership skills. This may entail assigning the students different leadership roles during the course of their learning. This may enhance the element of responsibility among students (Pete & Alisa, 2010 p.293). My believe about my teaching experience I believe that my teaching experience plays critical role in inculcating discipline whilst fostering understanding amongst learners. I have a belief that the student’s learning ability and their outstanding academic excellence is proportional to their level of discipline. It is imperative that the learners who lack discipline do not like to work always. Such students may be driven by bad motives other than those that are good for their academic excellence. My experience also warrants my believe that close attention should be paid to learners in order to identify their weaknesses. It is important to note that proper strategies will be employed to help different groups of learners with respect to their learning abilities. I believe that if this aspect is not taken into consideration, then most learners are bound to fail. Students have different learning abilities that warrant different approaches. The slow learners for instance should be engaged in numerous exercises that builds their understanding capacity. It is pertinent to note that, if the weak students are left unattended, their self-esteem may subside significantly leading to failure to concentrate. Such students’ morale may drive them into other antisocial behaviors. From experience, I also believe that moral support from both the teachers and parents is necessary for the student’s success. Motivation talks from teachers, parents, and other stakeholders in the academic arena are necessary to keep students focused on their main goals. If motivation is not accorded to the learners, they will fail to set their targets, neither will they find good role models whom they will always emulate. Lastly, I believe a good learning environment is important for the learners. The environment should be friendly for the learners to interact freely amongst themselves and with the instructors. Conclusion Having developed a thorough understanding of the expectations of all the stakeholders, a teacher will move in by responding to the requirements appropriately. The requirements will be identified from the self-reflective exercise. The reflection will highlight the areas that need work and those that have to be exploited for the betterment of the learning process. Therefore, a teacher will respond to each stakeholder’s important issue in the most effective manner. Responding to the important issues of the stakeholders and fulfilling their needs will result in the achievement of the goals guiding adult learning. References Griff, F. (2008). Dimensions of adult learning: adult education and training in a global era. New York: McGraw-Hill International. Pete, H., & Alisa, S. (2010). Building Teachers Capacity for Success: A Collaborative Approach for Coaches and School Leaders. California: ASCD. Read More