Answer

Teaching Capabilities Statement

To be a teacher is to possess a transformative power. Teaching involves the transfer of knowledge and skills to learners on the one hand, and helping learners identify and nurture that which they are good at on the other. While a teacher therefore has to concentrate on acceptable methods of pedagogy and transfer of these useful skills, they also have to help learners develop positive attitudes and love for the skills that they seek to develop and learn. It is the desire to put learners at the centre and help them love their own learning that defines good teaching.

What Teaching involves

Teaching involves putting learners at the centre of the learning process. This means that the teacher has to think of creative ways of making teaching as learner centred as possible (Luyten & Bazo, 2019). While there are a set of skills that the teacher would want to impart in the learners, the teacher has to approach the learners with the mind-set that there is something the learners knows and things that they are interested in. After knowing the learner’s interests and passions, the teacher then finds creative ways of incorporating these interests and prior knowledge within the present context. Teaching must not be an activity in which the teacher dominates the learning environment. With the student at the centre, the teacher is there to aid in the process of self-discovery. Teaching also involves incorporating the progressive aspects of learning for the student, observing this progress against the desired educational outcomes and seeing how the learnt skills are applied by the learners to solve problems.

Personal and Academic Qualities

To be an effective teacher, there are qualities that I believe will help me be effective at teaching. One of these is creativity and innovation. It is important that I think of novel ways of initiating, implementing and evaluating the learners under my care. The creativity and innovation would help me break boredom and monotony that may be occasioned by repetitive teaching methods (Haider & Jalal, 2018). Inclusivity and tolerance as qualities I possess would also help me ensure that all learners feel accepted and valued within the learning process.

Some of my professional qualities would also come in handy. My competitiveness and hard work would be essential in helping the learners acquire the vital trait of a spirit of excellence and desire to be and achieve more. Team work is also another professional quality that as a teacher, I find invaluable. The learners under my care would have to display the same level of cooperation and team spirit that fosters collaborative learning and ensures that the learners can express their own ideas freely and evaluate the ideas of others in the same way.

Attitude to Learning

According to me, learning is life-long and dependent on emerging issues of the day. One of the most important attitudes that as a teacher, I would prioritize is to help my learners foster the spirit of the love for life-long learning. The knowledge, skills and expertise acquired within any learning environment my help one to solve problems of the present. The love of life-long learning on the other hand ensures that the learners are prepared to face future challenges as well. I have learnt that it is always important to make learners see the connection between the things they learn and the practical application of that knowledge. This involves helping learners apply the things they learn in real life. I believe that in many ways, this practical application of knowledge is essential.