Executive Summary And Analysis

I started this year still a school learner with a limited knowledge of teaching, based only off of the 12+ years I spent as a school-going learner. Now I am a novice teacher. Many things this year such as the coursework I’ve studied; the most significant being every-day vs. formal knowledge, the taxonomy for learning, teaching and assessing and language (particularly explanations and questions); my apprenticeship of observation and constant reflection have helped me achieve this growth. In this essay, I will discuss how my knowledge of teaching has deepened according to the listed factors above; how my idea of a ‘good’ teacher has shifted and how I now feel about becoming a teacher in comparison to the beginning of this year.

Unlike any other

(2001) was another course concept that presented itself as a ‘lightbulb’ moment during this course. The taxonomy showed me that while we need to teach the information outlined by the curriculum, if the end goal for students is to remember and to be able to use the information we give them, then we need a formal, structured way to teach and assess knowledge. TLTA takes the idea that knowledge in schools must be formal and breaks knowledge up into six levels by which we can teach, learn and assess. The six levels of knowledge are remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating and creating (Anderson et al, 2001, pp 63-68). Studying this concept forced me to look at my previous learning throughout the years and see how teachers had implemented this ‘formula’ into my learning. TLTA deepened my understanding of teaching by giving me a way to assess learning and my teaching. TLTA has, in a manner, become the bridge for me this year from the idea of formal learning to a good

Someone who is nurturing, caring, strong and wise. Someone there at all times to teach and love and be tough on you, someone full of knowledge. While I still agree with this analogy I think being a teacher is more like being a circus. As a teacher you have to be strong, funny, smart, knowledgeable about your craft and confident like the performers in a circus. Teaching, just like circus performers, never stop perfecting their craft. Someone who always knows exactly what’s going on in their class just like a circus master would. Teachers always have to have a plan or a method and while sometime things might go wrong or get very stressful, you have to keep a straight face and make a plan. The circus is a business and it is run very efficiently. Teachers are the