photo credit: (study.com, n.d.)
Many
teachers seem to be under pressure at work due to their job requirements. They
look weak and tired at the end of the day because they want to fulfill their
part of the agreement as teachers/facilitators. It appears that most teachers
see the profession as a call to serve God and Mankind hence will go the extra mile
to perform their responsibilities. Aside from all these beliefs, teachers must
know that the human system may not be stretched beyond its capacity. Therefore,
there is the need to put the necessary measures in place to reduce the workload
in the classroom. The following are the ways by which teachers can save their
energies in the classroom:
Firstly,
plan your term or semester. Aside from the scheme of work and lesson note
preparation, it is expected of the
teacher to have a personal plan for the term or the academic year. A personal
plan will put your job description in your context. Everybody has issues to
deal with. For example, teachers embark on personal development programs or
deal with family raising issues. You must have a plan that will help you to
allocate time to your activities. Also, establish a culture or routines in your
classroom to ward off any unfamiliar responsibility. However, be flexible in the
execution of your plan in order not to jeopardize your life with stress. The establishment
of a classroom routine ensures that teaching and learning flow in an orderly
manner. This reduces the teacher’s work because learning is a collective
responsibility.
Secondly,
you are not the epitome of knowledge. The teacher is not the reservoir of
knowledge. Most teachers think that they are supposed to know everything in
this world. Let your students know that you don’t know it all and that they
have a lot to offer during lesson delivery because teaching and learning is a
collaborative effort of both the students and the teacher. This will boost the
confidence level of students and awaken their inquiry skills. If this happens, students
will be feeding the class more information in a limited time. This will help
the teacher to relinquish part of his burden to students to save energy for
other works. NB. You are to guide students to discover knowledge by themselves.
Give students group works, individual projects, and assignments and be the one
that will summarize their ideas into substantial and credible knowledge.
Also,
use peer assessment to check students’ understanding of lessons. Assessment of
students may seem hectic at times. Therefore, if part of the assessment can be
done through peer review, it will reduce the teacher’s workload. Develop an
assessment guide for students to use to rate the works of their colleagues. Allow
students to write down the comments on the work of their peers and summarize
their comments into a report on students’ performance. Students will develop a good
sense of judgment to make relevant contributions to ongoing discussions in the
classroom which will make your work so easy and stress-free.
In
addition to the above, use resource persons to assist you in lesson delivery.
It is common knowledge that if you are not an expert in an area, you will
struggle to deliver content in that area to the understanding of your students.
Since each teacher has his/her strengths and weaknesses, don’t feel bossy to
employ the services of resource persons to helps you with the area that you
don’t have mastery over. For instance, a social studies teacher with a business
background may struggle to teach the geography aspect of social studies. She/he
must contact a colleague or anybody that has mastery over geography to help
explain the concepts to students. It will help save energy and time.
Finally,
record all the activities that went on in the classroom during the academic
year. Compile these documents into a notebook and update them as the years go
by. To make your work easier, it is imperative to reflect on what you did in
the past. How effective were your plans and how do you think you can make them
better. This will help you grow personally and professionally. A written record
of your experiences will enable you to have a hands-on solution to future
problems. This is in line with what Baldwin J., (1924-1987) said: “know from
whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go”.
By:
Bright Damankah
