TEACHING AS A PROCESS

TEACHING AS A PROCESSGROUP 3BACUDDE ALAMAGBAGMOLINAPANLILIO

As a process or as a giving off process

Many authors view teaching as organized, purposeful, and deliberate efforts designed to bring about certain specifically desirable ends to an individual, some individuals or a group of individuals. Like a chauffeur who drives for his passengers, one teaches in order that others may learn. In other words, in this process the teacher initiates, directs and leads his own class towards the realization of certain goals. To substantiate this point, the following definitions of teaching are given: 1. Teaching intends to induce learning. It does not just happen nor a matter of luck and mere occurrence; it is a deliberate activity. 2. Teaching is the process through which man endeavors to pass along to his children his hard-won wisdom and his aspiration for a better world. 3. Teaching is a form of pouring-in process of knowledge.4. Teaching is an art of leading the children and youth to live normally upright and successful lives.

AS INVOLVING MORE OF THE LEARNER THAN A TEACHEREmbodied in this definition is the changing function of teaching from being teacher-monopolized into student-directed and idea which runs counter to the traditional view of teaching. In this orientation, emphasis is placed on learning, not on teaching.As a system of actions and interactionsThe teacher and his students interact with one another. Teaching may be considered as system of actions varied in form and content but directed toward learning. It is the performance of these actions and in the interactions of the teacher with his students that learning takes place. These actions and interactions are of course personal. But they are also logical, in that they have a certain structure, a certain order, such that no matter where in the world teaching takes place, it does so in accordance with operations that reflect the very nature of a teaching-learning situation. As a system of actions and interactionsSuch logical operations involve three variables: (A) the teachers behavior, which is the independent variable; (B) the pupils behavior, which is the dependent variable; and (C) various postulated entities, such as memories, beliefs, needs, and interferences, which are intervening variables. These three variables are related in many ways. When a teacher teaches, he expect students to react in a certain pattern. Their overt behavior is usually made his basis for inferring or determining their interests, needs, motives and the likes. Their actions in turn lead to various postulated states in the teacher, which then give rise to actions. The cycle begins again, as the teachers behavior produces postulated states in them, and so on. Conclusions can be made later by the teacher whether his students have learned or not.

As a system of actions and interactionsIndependent variables in the teachers behavior consist of verbal, performative, and expressive acts. Verbal acts are of the kinds: Logical operations which include defining, classifying, explaining and the like;Directive operations which instruct the pupil on what he is to do, such as write on a blackboard, read a poem, or a recite a multiplication table; andAdmonitory operations include praising, blaming, reassuring and so on. Performative acts are of the motor variety but maybe accompanied by words. The teacher shows the pupil how to do something, such as regulate a Bunsen burner. Expressive acts reveal the psychological state of the teacher, exemplified in facial expression, tone of voice, body movements and so forth.

As a system of actions and interactionsThe dependent variables can be similarly classified. The learner performs many verbal actions. Some of the them are logical operations, and their purpose is to indicate that the pupil understands what he is being taught. He rarely performs verbal actions that are directive or admonitory, since telling-how-to and praising or blaming are typically the teachers responsibility. When the pupil behaves performatively, he normally does so to practice the actions themselves rather than to instruct anyone. The pupil also behaves expressively. He smiles or frowns, slumps or sits erect, speaks firmly or uncertainly, and so on. Such behavior, though rarely addressed to anyone, indicates to the teacher how the pupil is feeling. As a system of actions and interactionsThe kind and quality of interaction between them depends on these intervening variables. To illustrate this point, an example is the mix feelings shared by many teachers from the different classes they teach. In some classes composed of receptive, active and intellectually superior students, they are inspired to teach while in other classes where students are passive and hardly reacting individuals, they wish that their teaching time to these classes would never occur. Similarly, students react differently to several types of teachers:permissive and lenient; authoritative and stricthighly temperamental and insulting.

AS AN ADJUSTIVE ACTTeaching as basically an adjustive act on the part of the teacher to promote students learning. Such adjustive act requires the teacher to make the most out of a given situation. At times he may be assuming a dominant role; at some other times he may be having a very minimal interference on his students' learning or possibly no interference at all as the situation may warrant.AS AN ADJUSTIVE ACTA good teacher can tell his students a lot of questions; but the best teacher can play dumb while helping his students think out the answer themselves. A good teachers say an eager and enthusiastic talker; but the best teacher knows how to be quiet and patient while his students struggle to formulate their own thoughts in their own words. A good teacher is humble: he naturally feels that the accumulated wisdom of his subject is far more important than himself. But the best teacher is even humbler for he respects the feeling of young people that they are naturally far more important than a silly old subject. AS AN ADJUSTIVE ACTA good teacher knows that his students ought to be responsible, honest, and good citizens; but the best teacher knows the responsibility, honesty and good citizenship cannot be taught in a course because such qualities are communicated through daily actions not daily lectures. A good teacher strives to keep his class under control; but the best teacher knows that he must first be able to control himself. A good teacher earns his salary many times over; but the best teacher also earns deep and secret satisfaction which could be ruined if he tried to talk about it in public or convert it into cash.

AS AN ADJUSTIVE ACTThe students of a good teacher pass their courses, graduate and settle down with good jobs; but the best teacher's students go on receiving rewards everyday of their lives, for they have discovered that the life of the inquiring mind is exciting.AS PROVIDING THE LEARNER WITH W/ BASIC TOOLS OF LEARNINGFree. Learner-directed and controlled. Learner has complete freedom to orchestrate his own education. Teacher is one resource. Free-Open. Opening of school to the community and its resources. Non-competitive environment. No student failures. Curriculum is viewed as social system rather than as course of studies. Learner-centered. Open. Learner has considerable freedom to choose from a wide range of content areas considered relevant by teacher, parent, and student. Resource centers in major skill areas made available to learner. Teacher is supportive guide. AS PROVIDING THE LEARNER WITH W/ BASIC TOOLS OF LEARNINGOpen-Modified. Teacher-student planning or teacher-centered planning. Modified. Prescribed contents us made more flexible through individualization of instruction; school is ungraded; students learn same thing but at different rates. Using team teaching, teachers plan a differentiated approach to the same content. Teacher and programmed course of study are the major sources of student learning. Modified-Standard. Competitive environment. School is the major instructional setting. Subject-matter centered. Standard. Learner adheres to institution requirements uniformly prescribed; what is to be taught -- how, when, where and with whom. Teacher is instructor-evaluator. Student passes or fails according to normative standards.AS INHERENTLY A HUMANEAccording to Highet (1954) expressed that teaching involves emotions, which cannot be systematically appraised and employed.According to John Hough (1970) defined teaching as a unique, professional, rational and humane activity in which one creatively and imaginatively uses himself and knowledge to promote the learning and welfare of others, He stressed that in order that teaching may become humane, the teacher must be both creative and imaginative.

AS INHERENTLY A HUMANELikewise, Arthur Combs (1982) identified the following 6 areas that a teacher must fully understand so he can effect a truly humane instruction: The nature and possibilities of the human organismThe psychology of the learnerBeliefs about learningGoals and purposesAppropriate methodsAbout selfAs a humane activity, teaching is extending a professional help or assistance to student.

AS STRUCTURING THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTThe word structuring means building, constructing or organizing. Better still, it is the process of putting together certain elements systematically in order to produce more desirable results. According to Pacita Fernandez (1985) pinpointed such elements in her definition of teaching which is its a style of lecturing with a well defined purpose, organized subject matter, content suited and proportional to the limit given In structuring the learning environment, therefore, the teacher synthesizes specific elements like purposes (instructional purposes), subject matter or content, and even time. In addition, there are instructional materials, aids, and learning facilities available within and even outside the school.

AS STRUCTURING THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTThis perspective in teaching presupposes the teaching cannot take place in a vacuum. The learning environment must be adequately prepared and set up so learning can presumably occur. Thus, the teacher cannot make the students experiment without any previous preparation like the statement of the problem, formulation of hypothesis, familiarization of procedure and availability of materials.AS AN INQUIRY PROCESSINQUIRY TEACHING The process of answering questions and solving problems based on facts and observation and the strategy designed to teach students how to investigate problems and questions with facts. In the focusing inquiry, teachers identify the outcomes they want their students to achieve. They consider how their students are doing in relation to those outcomes, and they ask what their students need to learn next in order to achieve them.

AS AN INQUIRY PROCESSIn the teaching inquiry, teachers select teaching strategies that will support their students to achieve these outcomes. This involves asking questions about how well current strategies are working and whether others might be more successful. Teachers search their own and their colleagues past practice for strategies that may be more effective, and they also look in the research literature to see what has worked in other contexts. They seek evidence that their selected strategies really have worked for other students, and they set up processes for capturing evidence about whether the strategies are working for their own students.The learning inquiry takes place both during and after teaching as teachers monitor their students progress towards the identified outcomes and reflect on what this tells them. Teachers use this new information to decide what to do next to ensure continued improvement in student achievement and in their own practice.

As a complexTeaching is a complex, multifaceted activity, often requiring us as instructors to juggle multiple tasks and goals simultaneously and flexibly. Teaching is a complex activity that is challenging both intellectually and emotionally. It requires knowledge about the subject being taught, the curriculum, appropriate teaching and learning strategies and about the abilities, interests and personalities of the learners. As a science and as an artAccording to Eisner (1983), there are distinguishing marks between two facets of teaching.Firstly, while the former is primarily directed to inform the head, the latter is more suited to satisfy the soul.Secondly, while the former makes teaching more skillfully executed, the latter makes teaching more adaptive and flexible to meet the highly varied and complex needs of the learners.

As a science and as an artBased on the first difference, it presumes that teaching as a science emphasized the cognitive and psychomotor aspects of learning. When they get themselves involved in the learning process, they should eventually be able to apply their acquired knowledge and skills. Likewise, teaching as an art assumes the need for the learners to appreciate and improve the knowledge he has gained and skills acquired. As a science and as an artThe second difference presents a deeper perspective. Teaching as a science, views the teacher as an academician as well as a craftsman. As an academician, he is defined to be disciplined, organized, and therefore scientific in his teaching. He is expected to have a mastery of the subject and to organize it well in a manner that his learners can comprehend. As a craftsman, he is able to do all methods and skillful in their use. Teaching as an art, does not view teaching method as an activity of developing a particular lesson. This facet views the teacher as an innovator, one who is willing to modify and create new forms of teaching.While teaching as a science regards teaching as mechanical, teaching as an art looks at teaching as a dynamic and imaginative process. While the former essentially calls for skillful teaching, the latter aims at making teaching more relevant and responsive to the learners needs, interests and abilities.

Teaching applying the principles of other significantly related disciplinesNerbovig and Klausmeier (1974) elaborated on this statement as: Teaching draws its basic principles and procedures from many sources, but chiefly from psychology sociology, philosophy and of course, pedagogy and educational history. However, William Burton (1969) stated psychology as the most significant discipline from which the essence of teaching is derived. He defined teaching as stimulation, guidance, direction or encouragement of learning.