B) With the advent of
globalization, teachers need to develop new competencies. Analyse the
competencies that you need to develop to be able to manage a classroom
effectively in this New Millennium.
2.0
Introduction
Nowadays,
the world has achieved so many developments and achievement which actually
enhance our daily live activities. Every day, there is always new product or
technology that will be shown to the world. The use of electronic materials and
advance equipments to ease our lives is everywhere. The same goes for the teaching
education. If we look back at the 50’s to 90’s, teachers usually use a material
that is old fashions such as chalk when writing on the black board. But now, the
teacher has changed to the use of marker pens, due to the certain reason such
as from the health perspectives. During those eras also, all the process of
learning and teaching are fully under teacher responsibility. By starting to teach
them how to write, how to spell, until how they can calculate and reading
properly. But nowadays, there are so many gadgets or materials that can be used
by the teacher in order to make these processes becoming more exciting, fun and
interesting for the students. And in order to prepare our students to compete
with the students from another country, teachers need to develop new
competencies so that they able to manage a classroom effectively. The questions
are, what are the new competencies that teachers are needed so that they can
catch up with the new generation? What is the importance of all these
competencies in the process of learning and teaching in the classroom from the
globalization perspectives? What can the teachers do to prepare students for
the marketplace after they graduate? All these questions will be analysed and
discussed further in this essay.
2.1
New Competencies
So,
what is New Competencies? Based on the definition by website Resources for
Teaching & Learning, competencies can be defined as the capability to apply
or use a set of related knowledge, skills, and abilities required to
successfully perform “critical work functions” or tasks in a defined work
setting (Krathwohl, Bloom, and Masia, 2010). So from this definition, we can conclude
that new competencies are the set of related knowledge, skills and abilities required,
which catch up with the process of development and technology around the world.
To be more specific, from the teaching perspective, it is the criteria that
teachers needed so that they enable to catch up with the new generation. All of
these new competencies are very important because it helps the teacher to
conduct their teaching more effective and interactive.
2.2
Knowledge
Firstly
is the knowledge competency. Based on the website Washington State Human
Resources, knowledge competency refers to the practical or theoretical of a
subject (2012). In other words, knowledge is about what we know about the
things that happen around us, and general or specific information regarding
some field of skill and ability. For example, as an English teacher, he or she
must have deep understanding and wide quantity of knowledge about subject this
subject. Let’s imagine if the English teacher is still confused about the
differences between the Present Tense and Past Tense. Will the students follow
him? In the urban school which students usually has excellent academic
performance, they might make the teacher seems unknowledgeable because they
will ask why it is different between Past Tense and Present Tense. Even though
it seems small, but if the teacher cannot answer this simple question,
students’ interest of the learning probably will be carried away. This is
because they know this English teacher is actually no better than them. So what
is the point to learn from him if he do not even know what is he teaching.
Sometimes, teachers are too dependable on the text book. But their own
knowledge or field of information about the topic itself is just a bit higher
that the students. Furthermore, students in this New Millennium are exposed
with so many kinds of information and knowledge. When they know too much, there
will be a lot of questions that come up to their minds. They will ask
everything, or even say a lot about things that interested them. And for sure,
they will ask to the teacher about the information or knowledge because they
spend 5 days every week to go to school. Most of their time is with the teacher
and their friends. That is why teacher has to become knowledgeable and informative
in order for them to deal with the students’ sense of curiosity. Moreover,
students to amazed and listen to the teacher who has wide knowledge and massive
information in his or her mind. This is because they know that he or she is not
someone who they can play around easily.
2.3
Skill and Ability
Based
on the website http://youremployment.biz/ or The Employment Studies Institute,
skills and ability that a teacher should have is communication skills, problem
solving, and professionalism. Why communication skills are important? Because
communication skills enable the teacher to interact, socialize and know their
students. The ability to speak confidently, fluently and clearly by the teacher
will make the students to respect him or her more. Based on my own experience
in secondary school, where a young male teacher who only 4 years older than me.
I was 17 years old back then and he was 21 years old. Because the difference is
only 4 years, we felt him more like a brother to us. But, there is one thing
that made us respect him very much, which is he has the ability to speak,
communicate and socialize with us like a teacher who already 30 years old. That
is why I believe communication skills are very important.
The
skills and ability a teacher needed is problem solving. Nowadays, students face
so many kinds of situation and problems. Sometimes, teachers are their best person
to refer to because students in the primary classroom, is respecting their
teacher very much. There are also some cases where students treat the teacher
as the most correct person in their life. Everything the teacher says, students
can easily believe it. But, if another adult, students might have doubt it.
That is why teacher nowadays must have the problem solving skills. It is because
students always refer any problems or their difficulties to the teacher. Moreover, problems like bully,
misunderstanding among students and so on, really needs the teacher to have
quick understanding of the situation and immediate solving. By this way,
teacher actually helps the students to feel more relieved because they know
that there are people who can help them to face and solve the conflict.
Furthermore,
a teacher should also have the professionalism in them. But, what it is mean by
professionalism? Based on the website Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary,
professionalism can be defined as the skill, good judgment, and polite
behaviour that are expected from a person who is trained to do a job well
(2014). In teaching profession, a teacher should be confident without being
arrogant. For example, when the students ask the teacher question, teacher must
admit either he knows the answer or not. If yes, just answer the question. If
no, then he has to promise the students that he will give them the answer once
he knows. And he must carry out that promise. Even though it seems simple, but
actually it shows either the teacher is professional or not.
Proper
preparation is another important aspect of professionalism. For example, when
the teacher enters the classroom, he should have all the required materials and
the lesson plan ready. In addition, interaction with the group needs
professional standards of behaviour such as polite, firm and fair to all students.
The teacher must give everyone their chance to contribute and should be
flexible enough to modify lessons if they cannot participate as a whole. Teacher
also should be punctual and have appropriate tidiness of their dressing. It is
impossible to demand such ethics from students if the teacher himself doesn’t
set the standards.
2.4 ICT
Competency
This is another competency
that the teacher of this New Millennium should acquire. Teacher should have the
ability to use technology effectively and many kinds of digital technologies such as gadgets, computers, PDAs,
media players, and GPS. Teacher should also have the skills to use the
communication or networking tools, and social networks. This is because
students in this new era are really advanced with their gadgets and exposed a
lot with so many kinds of social network such as Facebook, Twitter, Friendster,
Instagram, and many others. What make things worse is these students bring
along all these gadgets to their school. When they find the learning session is
bored, they will simply turn on their mobile phone and start to open their
social network account. As a result, they do not focus and the teacher cannot
conduct their teaching well. In order to overcome this, teacher must be
creative and innovative. The use of technology in teaching itself is very
important because it helps to attract their attention. So, rather than just
teaching using old method, teacher should use their ICT competencies skills
such as Powerpoint Presentation, video session and LCD projector to make the
lesson become more interactive and fun.
2.5 Globalization and Market Place
Based
on the Dictionary.com, globalization can be defined as the process of
integration and development that happen all around globe. As for the education
context, globalization is the process of extending students’ awareness of the
world in which they live in. This process is done by opening them to the
diverse heritage of human thought, action, and creativity. It places particular
emphases on the changes in communication and relationships among people
throughout the world, which we say as the borderless world. Through
globalization, students are exposed with so many kinds of information and news
around the world. This is different to compare with the 50’s to 90’s where
information are hardly to get and so many filtration. But in this new era, information can get by
anyone, by anytime, and by anywhere. All that they need is a gadget that has
Internet connection. This is the reality that teacher nowadays has to face.
Everything
that we as the educators do in the school is actually to prepare our students
for the market place once they graduate. The competition is very tough where
they need to compete with not just local students, but also those from foreign
country. Clearly it has never been more important for schools to provide
students exposure to the information technologies that will prepare them for
successful entry in to, and thriving careers in, the present day work place. In
order to do this, our teachers need to be comfortable with a wide variety of
technologies, yet many schools across the country and the world at large have
been slow to accept and embrace this vital skill set. Of course, the
fundamentals of reading, math, and many other academic subjects absolutely and
undeniably come first, but technology skills are now an essential part of the
overall mix.
2.6
Conclusion
In
order to prepare students who are competent to have the quality to compete with
the foreign students, we should realise that teachers themselves need to be
competent in this new era. The advancement of technology and information is not
only need the teacher to know the how to teach, but also how to use all those
technology and gadgets as maximum as they can to make the lesson more
effectives and fun.
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