Written by Asep Rudi Casmana
Teachers play an important role in schools. This is because they
should help their student not only to get knowledge, but also to help them to
be better citizen. Today, I have visited one of the best school in the city of
York, United Kingdom namely Bootham School and observe several class to see
what is going on in the room. This is part of the program provided by
department of education in The University of York to visit and see the school.
In my opinion, I discover lots of interesting things about the teacher,
particularly how to be a good educator in terms of head teacher’s perspective.
Normally, when the school is looking for a new employee to be a teacher, these
characteristics are very important to be considered. Christopher Jeffery, the
school’s principal of Bootham school in York highlights that there are three
most important skills that should teachers have. These are having interest to
talk with young people, communicate enthusiastically, and have an interest to
collaborate with other people.
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| University of York Student MA in Education |
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| Teacher of Botham School |
Admittedly, having an interest to communicate with pupils is the
most important skills that should be owned by teachers. This is because they
need to convey not only knowledge but also encourage them to be an unusual
citizen. For example, when I observed English class in Bootham school, Elizabeth Gallagher-Coates, a teacher in the
class was happy to talk with pupils. The materials that they learn today is
storytelling and writing a letter for people.
She sometimes come visit some groups in class to ask and make sure that
students understand what she said. She asked face to face and talk with them
about today’s lesson. Thus, students really enjoy to study and they come up
with a new insight after class. It has proven that having an intention to talk
with pupils is imperative for those who tend to be a teacher.
In addition to this, Jeffery stated having a communication skill
enthusiastically is another ability that teacher should possess before teaching
in Bootham school. For this reason, he said several modules in the school need
teacher who can encourage pupils to be really engage and participate in
discussion. Taking PRE (Philosophy, Religious, Ethic) as an example. This is my
second class that I observed in the school. Tracey Copestake, a teacher in this
class was enthusiastic and has a huge spirit to convey an insight about the
history of Christian in United Kingdom. She can encourage all pupils to speak
and participate in the class to give an opinion. When she spoke and taught
enthusiastically, students were more engaged in the class and have a lot of
curiosity about the lesson. Moreover, this idea also is supported by Chris
Kyriacou (1997), a professor of Education in The University of York, who has
highlighted that one of a good teacher characteristic is clarity of explanation
and teacher enthusiasm. As such, this sort of skill should be owned by
prospective teacher before going to Bootham school.
Eventually, the head teacher mentioned that educators should have
a tendency to collaborate with people. This skill is important to give feedback
for other teacher. Although teachers are busy with their activity, they need to
have a sense of improving themselves. To exemplify, the Bootham school
sometimes conducts a collaboration or supervision teaching. Teacher can see and
observe their friends in class. Afterwards, they come up with a notion about
how to improve teaching skills. Therefore, this willingness to collaborate with
others is very important as well.
In my personal perspective, I agree that these three abilities of
ideal teachers should be owned by schoolteacher. These characteristics can help
pupils not only improve their knowledge, but also make them to be better
citizen. The purpose of Bootham school is not escorting pupils to high
reputable university, but building people who can be participate in government
or public life.
To sum up, although there are a vast majority of an ideal teacher,
the three characteristics of educator in Bootham school can help other people
who have willingness to be a teacher in school. Where possible, for those
people who are learning how to be a teacher, they need to improve these three
skills.
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| Classroom environment |
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| Meeting with head teacher |
