Engaging Students Is Most Challenging Aspect Of Teaching
Ken Spero is CEO of Ed Leadership Sims (ELS), which created technology developed to provide principals, assistant principals, superintendents and other educators with the skill set of quality leadership capabilities. The technology offers computer-based simulations in a workshop setting. The educators are confronted with real-world experiences that help them improve their ability to solve problems effectively in schools.
What is the most challenging aspect of teaching in a classroom environment?
"Engagement. If students are not engaged, then you cannot do anything, no matter how interesting the content or how good the lesson plan. However, when students are engaged, then anything is possible, and it can go way beyond the instructional content. An engaged student opens up the possibilities both internal in their minds as well as being more receptive to insights from other students."
Are continuing education courses beneficial for teachers?
"By using Continuing Ed to focus on application and building experience, we can help teachers to be more flexible in dealing with whatever comes their way and improve the probability of a better decision being made. We cannot be perfect, nobody is, however, but if we can help teachers to feel more capable of dealing with what may come. Even when they get it wrong, they will have a better resilience to pick themselves up and continue to work."
Do you feel a Masters in education would be helpful in your day-to-day career?
"I do, especially in a good program, however, this can also be mitigated by being engaged in the learning process. The opportunity to be in a learning environment where not only the student is engaged but they are amongst other engaged, and motivated students set up a learning environment that can grow exponentially in terms of value. Our ability to not only learn new content, but to see different perspectives on how the information/frameworks can be applied in various environments. Different kinds of people that I view as my peers make for a powerful development opportunity that can be present in a master's program and can be enormously helpful in one's development plan."
Do you have any advice for people wanting to enter the teaching profession?
"Engagement is the most important thing, not the lesson plan or the content. I am not saying that neither of those is important, but without engagement, it does not matter. When you have neither, it can be a positive experience for the students, and that is what we need to establish. At the end of the day, no matter how much students learn in their classes, they will still need to learn it again. Therefore, the best thing we can do is help them to be motivated students who like to engage in the learning process. The more that teachers can do to utilize the tools at their disposal, the easier it will be to teach. The students will be better able, and potentially be more interested, in being accountable for their learning and development."
Christina Thompson is a freelance writer living in Philadelphia. She reports on various topics such as: Social Media, Local Events, Entertainment, Food and Drink and more. Her work can be found at http://firstsendmedia.com/
