It is easy for my field. Things change every day, if you don't keep learning and changing you fall so behind you will not be asked back to teach again.
Instructor needs to know what they teach. Mastering a subject starts with product knowledge. Seminars, workshops and other professional activities give that person an opportunity to nurture and to expend his skills as the industry changes with new trends or technology. The second part of being a good instructor is related to coaching properly anybody who takes your course. Being an expect in transforming your students requires training and experience. Contineous education helps the educators' growth in that particular area. Better understanding Andragogy, perfecting or acquiring better instructional practices is a moral and professional responsability of each of us. Therefore in my opinion it is imperative to balance the two in order to keep growing.
It is important as an Instructor in the Culinary Arts to stay current with the trends. I find time outside of class researching these ideas, then practice executing these new trends during the class-time. I find that students like to get involved and often times can give great input to achieve success. Teaching the same class and same material can seem redundant at times, however, I feel that having confidence in the material allows for time and opportunity to explore a new topic and a new exciting way to teach that new topic.
these classes really help me to stay focus on my role as a teacher, while my passion for cooking keeps me involved in profession as a chef
Jason I have the same situation, a working chef during the day and a chef educator during the night. Each discipline enhances the skill set of the other. I also think it works as a positive and real life role model to my students.
Hi Herschel!
Good job! Seeing what the real world is doing in any field can be very interesting and provide a great opportunity for learning.
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED107 Facilitator
It is very difficult. There is little to no prep time, so I get on the computer at home to update power points and try to read and stay current when students are takiing a test, for example.
Hi Betsy!
Good for you! It sounds like you are always looking for learning opportunities and when this happens, we learn so many things that we otherwise would not. Now - please be sure to role-model that love of life-long learning to your students.
Good job and keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED107 Facilitator
Hi Naima!
This first step to learning is being open to it no matter where it comes from nor how controverial it is. It gives us information needed for making informed decision.
Keep up the good work!
Jane Davis
ED107 Facilitator
I find current events to be quite useful. Each day I make sure to browse Google News to be updated on the latest happenings around the world and share the more relevant news with my students. This encourages students to see that Cultural Diversity concepts apply to the world at large, not just the classroom. In doing this, I often gain new ideas for classroom activities.
I take time to read as much new items as I can on my subject to help develop my teaching skills.
I think you are so right traditional instructing is old and if we learn new ways then there is so much opportunity for learning.
When I am creating new ways of presenting information it usually requires me to divulge more into that specific topic. I feel as if I need to have my head wrapped around a new topic when I instruct my students to complete research on the topic.
Once the assignment is complete, I learn from my students work and I am able to reflect back on the references in their work to validate what they've turned in.
It enriches my knowledge base so that when I re-teach the same topic, I now have even more to share with my next class.
Learning is always growing.
My field has never ending learning options.
My students come from a wide background so I need to constantly change the way I teach a course.
I am other asked to co teach with other instructors.
This helps me to develop new ways to teach
I always relish in the fact that I work with a awesome team. They give wonderful advise to me about how to teach something a little better or what ever I need. So I balance it by discussing things with my fellow instructors. I feel that feed back is a great thing and I ask for it as often as possible.
I always try to put myself in my student's place & try see the topics & discussion from their point of view. In response to learning about the subject we are taching I believe that there is always an opportunity to learn, one must just allow themselves to be open & willing.
I learn from each group of students prior to the current students that I instuct. I listen to them and grow from engaging with them and use those ideas with the newer students. I also share my day to day schedule with them and this opens up communication on both ends which is required for continous growth for me.
My experience has proven this to be a classic question that all committed teachers/educators face and in fact struggle with at times. To teach you must be a life-long learner and have a high-improvement drive. Teachers should constantly be reflecting, assessing, and or evaluating their curriculum/classroom experience. I find it very easy to spend too much personal time working on this important issue. To balance this, I set boundaries and goals for myself. For example, I will limit myself to a certain amount of personal hours a week or day to spend time on this. I find it helpful to keep a list of things I want to change, add or improve for a given class in my curriculum notebook and then I work on those ideas/changes accordingly. To determine what to change, add or improve I survey my students for constructive feedback on the course and reflect on my observations. Donna
Thanks. That is a very helpful tip!
I am always trying to learn more about new technology however I don't teach things I don't know so I learn it and practice also I always try new things all the time
