Reflections on my study path...
1. MY COMPETENCES AND VOCATIONAL TEACHERHOOD
Overall, I believe my competencies as a teacher are above average...but there is still a long way to go. I also have no formal experience as a vocational teacher, so I am unable to assess my abilities in that arena.
In May, I completed a required questionnaire: 'Self-evaluation of competence OAMK/AMOK'. It is now apparent that this questionnaire was based largely on the descriptions of professional teacher's core competences. When analyzing the results of the first part of the questionnaire (scaling my pedagogical competence), I see that I perceive my greatest strength to be 'competence in interacting and communicating with a student', followed by 'assessment and feedback competence'. I feel confident in both of these areas. My entire career has been one based on interaction and communication with students, particularly teenagers, but spanning from young children through the elderly. In addition, whenever I taught a course or workshop, I tried to close it with a student/participant evaluation (normally done in a written, anonymous fashion). In this way, I feel confident in both of these areas.
According to the same scale, my perceived weakness in pedagogical competency is that of special needs education. Perhaps I am being a bit overly-critical of myself, but then again I have only had one year of my professional life working specifically with special-needs students. Therefore, this is an area where I could develop more.
The rest of the areas in the pedagogical competencies fell in the middle (each scored a 3 out of 5 on the scale). Of these, I believe 'planning' is my greatest challenge, as planning an organizing in general is an area where I have to work very hard to stay ahead. This is another area where I could develop more.
The remainder of the questionnaire challenged me to rate myself in several other competencies: values integration, the world of work, working community competence, internationalization and research and development. The first two are the strongest of these for me, but all of them are quite inspiring for me in my pursuit of becoming a more effective teacher.
2. FAMILIRIAZING MYSELF WITH THE STUDIES AND PLANNING AHEAD
Read the study plan of the School of Vocational Teacher Education and create yourself the learning outcomes and a study plan.
What studies support and nurture the development of your core competences?
Since my formal educational background is mainly in psychology, much of the educational theory is either new to me or only somewhat familiar. Therefore, educational theory should be professionally nurturing for me. In addition, I look forward to observing other teachers to learn from them during my teaching practice.
How do you schedule your studies?
This is something of a challenge. Since I work full time during the day and have family obligations in the evenings, that mainly leaves the small amount of discretionary time I have in my life at this point: late in the evening or on the weekend (where possible). Taking time off from work for sessions has also been difficult: it means going without some pay and in some cases missing some important classes, meetings or events. My principal has been supportive, but also needs to be fair in that I cannot be paid when I am not present. In the end, it has required a good bit of extra effort from my wife to take care of our children and deal with my frequent online group sessions, sometimes continuing very late into the night. I am still not sure, at this point, if I will be able to complete all of my optional studies this year or if I will need to delay them until next year.
Consider the possibilities teaching practise in your own field of work. In which vocational institute or polytechnic or other institute can I carry out my teacher practise? What core contents shall I concentrate on? Which target audience shall be my students? Or shall I go abroad for Teaching Practise?
This is something I have been wrestling with. I am hopeful to have a variety of experiences during my teaching practice that will help me with my current responsibilities as Student Guidance Counselor, but also exposing me to vocational teaching. I will likely propose observing classes in my own school and neighboring schools, supervised by my principal, and then teaching courses in my own school (the main limitation is with language, as there are very few vocational schools which teach in English).
What former competences or learning shall I present to be accredited? –Familiarize yourself with the accreditation policies of the school.
None at this time.
3. MY FUTURE AS A VOCATIONAL TEACHER
Use at least three sentences to describe how you see yourself as a vocational teacher in the future.
I see myself as a vocational teacher that teaches students in a holistic way. Inasmuch as possible, I would teach professionally and confidently, but with humility. In attempting to help students learn as effectively as possible, I would give them as much or more hands-on learning experiences as I would theoretical. I would also give them a variety of assessments, including a proportional amount of self- and peer- assessment.
1. MY COMPETENCES AND VOCATIONAL TEACHERHOOD
Overall, I believe my competencies as a teacher are above average...but there is still a long way to go. I also have no formal experience as a vocational teacher, so I am unable to assess my abilities in that arena.
In May, I completed a required questionnaire: 'Self-evaluation of competence OAMK/AMOK'. It is now apparent that this questionnaire was based largely on the descriptions of professional teacher's core competences. When analyzing the results of the first part of the questionnaire (scaling my pedagogical competence), I see that I perceive my greatest strength to be 'competence in interacting and communicating with a student', followed by 'assessment and feedback competence'. I feel confident in both of these areas. My entire career has been one based on interaction and communication with students, particularly teenagers, but spanning from young children through the elderly. In addition, whenever I taught a course or workshop, I tried to close it with a student/participant evaluation (normally done in a written, anonymous fashion). In this way, I feel confident in both of these areas.
According to the same scale, my perceived weakness in pedagogical competency is that of special needs education. Perhaps I am being a bit overly-critical of myself, but then again I have only had one year of my professional life working specifically with special-needs students. Therefore, this is an area where I could develop more.
The rest of the areas in the pedagogical competencies fell in the middle (each scored a 3 out of 5 on the scale). Of these, I believe 'planning' is my greatest challenge, as planning an organizing in general is an area where I have to work very hard to stay ahead. This is another area where I could develop more.
The remainder of the questionnaire challenged me to rate myself in several other competencies: values integration, the world of work, working community competence, internationalization and research and development. The first two are the strongest of these for me, but all of them are quite inspiring for me in my pursuit of becoming a more effective teacher.
2. FAMILIRIAZING MYSELF WITH THE STUDIES AND PLANNING AHEAD
Read the study plan of the School of Vocational Teacher Education and create yourself the learning outcomes and a study plan.
What studies support and nurture the development of your core competences?
Since my formal educational background is mainly in psychology, much of the educational theory is either new to me or only somewhat familiar. Therefore, educational theory should be professionally nurturing for me. In addition, I look forward to observing other teachers to learn from them during my teaching practice.
How do you schedule your studies?
This is something of a challenge. Since I work full time during the day and have family obligations in the evenings, that mainly leaves the small amount of discretionary time I have in my life at this point: late in the evening or on the weekend (where possible). Taking time off from work for sessions has also been difficult: it means going without some pay and in some cases missing some important classes, meetings or events. My principal has been supportive, but also needs to be fair in that I cannot be paid when I am not present. In the end, it has required a good bit of extra effort from my wife to take care of our children and deal with my frequent online group sessions, sometimes continuing very late into the night. I am still not sure, at this point, if I will be able to complete all of my optional studies this year or if I will need to delay them until next year.
Consider the possibilities teaching practise in your own field of work. In which vocational institute or polytechnic or other institute can I carry out my teacher practise? What core contents shall I concentrate on? Which target audience shall be my students? Or shall I go abroad for Teaching Practise?
This is something I have been wrestling with. I am hopeful to have a variety of experiences during my teaching practice that will help me with my current responsibilities as Student Guidance Counselor, but also exposing me to vocational teaching. I will likely propose observing classes in my own school and neighboring schools, supervised by my principal, and then teaching courses in my own school (the main limitation is with language, as there are very few vocational schools which teach in English).
What former competences or learning shall I present to be accredited? –Familiarize yourself with the accreditation policies of the school.
None at this time.
3. MY FUTURE AS A VOCATIONAL TEACHER
Use at least three sentences to describe how you see yourself as a vocational teacher in the future.
I see myself as a vocational teacher that teaches students in a holistic way. Inasmuch as possible, I would teach professionally and confidently, but with humility. In attempting to help students learn as effectively as possible, I would give them as much or more hands-on learning experiences as I would theoretical. I would also give them a variety of assessments, including a proportional amount of self- and peer- assessment.
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