EDN550 Reflective Assignment

Part 2b What do you understand an effective teacher to be?

The image highlights what it is to be an effective teacher in the modern times of the 21st
century. An effective teacher needs to have a repertoire of teaching skills at their deposal.
Not only do they require all the knowledge of their teaching area and teaching techniques, it
is vital that they manage to portray themselves personally in a manner of etiquette dictated
by society. In the following, I will be analysing the picture in regards to what it means to be
an effective teacher. Further, I will be reflecting on my practical experience with the above
picture in mind.
Teachers today need to be up-to-date in their teaching methods, incorporating technology
in their lessons and students use of technology in classrooms to learn and study with
laptops, I-pads, learning online programs; as this generation is heavily incorporated with
technology in their everyday lives. Following on with this, the learning environment should
be created in a safe, warm and learning focussed setting for all. This is important to
understand and apply in any modern classroom in Australia. During my practical placement,
the school held high expectations from teachers, myself included, to the use of technology
in the classroom.
Fluidity should be a teaching trait as teachers need to adjust and accommodate to any and
all differentiated instruction, incorporating new concepts and ideas and any sudden changes
that impact their curriculum planning.

Conveying your enthusiasm to students may have a positive influence on the way students
perceive your teaching (Williams, 1997). This may also have a direct impact to student
achievement (Greenburg, 1999).
Teaching techniques to the appropriate teaching context is critical in being an effective
teacher to student academic and behavioural success.
Use teaching techniques which are appropriate to your teaching context. Think about the
differences between teacher-directed, peer-directed and self-directed teaching and learning
activities and relate these to your intended learning outcomes as you consider which
techniques to employ. Ensuring that assessment tasks align with learning outcomes is of
central importance, and will help to focus students (Biggs and Tang, 2007). This is shown in
the picture. Something that I focussed on when designing each lesson was where it tied in to
the previous lessons and students assessment.
Teacher feedback is a form of reflective assessment that builds a teachers students
understanding. Feedback provided to is an opportunity for students to improve the quality
of their work and understanding to the expected standards. Feedback can be throughout a
lesson as informal, maintaining student focus on learning objectives. Whereas, formal
feedback takes on the form in assessed work such as assignments, tests, and exams. This
can be individual or whole class feedback. Both types of feedback provide useful means of
evaluating student performance, but are utilised a different point of a teachers curriculum
teaching. Teachers may also be inclined to allow students to provide feedback towards a
lesson, task or teaching technique. This provides a teacher identification on particular
learning styles, tasks and lessons that students enjoyed. It can be seen as a monitoring loop
that promotes students motivation whilst engaged in something that interests them.

Material is new to students who will be novices, well thought structure and clear guidelines
and learning objectives will be of extreme benefit to students dealing with new ideas,
knowledge and concepts. Also, varying the amount of information given in each lesson is
vital as too much will overwhelm students. However, on the other hand, as I found out
during my second lesson, too little content can create a bored response from students.
Being well-prepared for lesson teaching benefits the students and aids in making a teachers
profession easier and more manageable.

Communication is important to a positive teacher-learner relationship. Positive verbal, non-

verbal communication is key to achieving this for a healthy student-teacher relationship.
However, a tirade between students-teachers-parents vitally exists to achieving learner and
teaching success.

Most importantly, it is critical to the sanity of a teacher to remember to have a life outside
of their profession as shown by the shoes in the picture. During my practical placement it
was hard to maintain a balance between teaching lessons and other responsibilities, but
with experience, hopefully, this becomes more balanced. The key underlining message to
this picture and from my practical experience is that of balance. As a teacher you must find
a balance between teaching and life outside of teaching. Further, a balance as a teacher is
needed. After my first lesson, I decided to find more of a balance between firm and friendly.
At times I found myself too strict or too lenient. With experience, I hope to find the right
balance as an educator as shown by the above picture of what I think it means to be an
effective teacher.
References
Greenburg, J. (1999). How do we value teaching? Voices of the students. National Teaching
and Learning Forum. http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/suppmat/82green.htm

Williams, W. & Ceci, S. (1997). "How'm I doing?" Problems with student ratings of
instructors and courses. Change 29, 5, 12-23

Biggs and Tang (2007). Teaching for quality learning at university. 3rd Edition. Maidenhead:
Open University Press and Society for Research into Higher Education