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My perception of a teacher is someone who is knowledgeable about the content of the materials to be disseminated to their students. However, teachers wear many hats. A teachers is considered to be a provider, mentor, a facilitator, a model to name a few. Which means that a teacher has to be flexible in his/her personality to carry out those tasks effectively. In chapter one Teachers and Learners, the unit highlighted some qualities of a good teacher for example, a teacher should know how to motivate learners. To do this, teachers should be able to interact with their student’s cultural experiences and background, this will help the teacher to plan lessons that will cater to student’s needs and their interests. Hence, it is important for teachers to conduct needs assessment at the beginning of each class before students are place in classrooms. Teachers should be creative. The physical classroom environment should be reflect depending on the level of students with whom the teacher is interacting. The teacher should know what types of charts and other learning aids that he/she needed beforehand so that the lesson will be able to flow as planned. The teacher should be creative in the designing of lesson plans, giving of instructions, facilitating students learning so as effectively accommodate varying learning styles to fit the needs and level of the students in their classrooms. A teacher should be able to switch roles when executing a lesson. It is important for teachers to plan “students centered” lesson rather than “teacher centered”. This is true because teachers should assess the students reception of the content to determine if students internalized the concepts being taught and also give the opportunity for the students in the class to share their ideas with the other students, this will help to build rapport, it may aids some students in understand what has been taught if students did not understand the concepts when the teacher explained them. In my experience, students helping each other is very effective in learning. You might find students in the class who are not yet comfortable or confident to ask questions, these students will rather asked their peers for help. The teacher role is to make sure that the students are sharing the correct information. In this instances, the teacher is being a facilitator. It is paramount, that everyone should do some reflection to see where they are coming from to improve on where they will go in the future. This is no different in the classroom. As a teacher, being able to reflect is one of the greatest responsibilities. In my opinion, self-assessment is important because it aid the teacher’s professional development. Professional development allows teachers to be aware of their conduct in their work place and how they interact with students, colleagues and other stakeholders. Reflection is also vital after every completed lesson, this will help the teacher to see which aspects of their overall class structure needs improvement whether it is the teacher's gestures, attitude or how the lesson is plan and delivered. This will help the holistic development of both the teacher and the students.
