Reflecting on Teaching for
Next Generation
Education
All along
teaching, different teaching approaches have been applied in education in order
to attend learners with the latest in methodology and to provide a more
personalized teaching. On the other
hand, teachers have adapted their teaching style to the needs of students; that
is from Grammar Translation, Direct Method, Situational Approach, Audio-lingual,
the Communicative Language Teaching, TBL, and others, the challenge has still been
to develop sessions that are more communicative so that learners achieve the mastery
of the Common Core standards.
Increasingly,
the challenge leads teachers to incorporate activities that help learners
develop not only the four language skills: listening, reading, speaking, and
writing, but also integrate rigorous core academic content with critical
thinking and complex problem solving skills, as well as to promote collaborative
work so they communicate effectively. However, the educational policies in our
country force teachers to cover a syllabus a fact that unfortunately restricts
not only teachers but also students´ creativity and this entire dream remain
there.
If we only
reviewed of our ‘lectures’ given in class at the end of every year, we would
probably notice that some of them were worthless. Tons of worksheets, handouts,
quizzes, and exams wouldn’t have been necessary for sure, but they had to be applied
because of the syllabus and the evaluation system. So are we on the right track
to be ready to teach next generation learners? Isn´t it time to stop and think
about our job and the way things are being done in the classroom?
I think we should take some time and reflect on how to redesign lessons and
the way learners need to be attended. Are we speaking their language, or we keep
teaching the same way to every single group thinking we have the panacea and
will make things work in class. We need to make them more personalized and competency-based. A good start is recognizing that Baby Boomers,
X and Y Generations have received significantly different education –numberless
methodological approaches- and that the current generation as well as the
coming one need urgent changes in class. The past is gone; the present is the
chance to make things work for them. Should you then be part of this change?
As teachers,
we have the responsibility to promote curiosity, investigation, creativity, and
much more through different contexts, which should be our main concern. Let’s
get ready to do our best in enlightening next generation students. Cutting edge educational
studies show that despite the wide variety of individual school models, next generation
education will inevitably rest on three building blocks: 1) knowing the student 2) appropriate
content, and 3) a variety of delivery methods. In
combination, these components can potentially bring high levels of personalization
to student learning.
Additionally, technology has transformed the way students
interact and learn, both inside and outside of the classroom so teachers need
to be familiarized to this kind of learning environments to fluently interact
with them. With the rise of mobility nowadays, anywhere in the world, learners
demand collaborative, active learning spaces as a baseline for entering a
competitive workforce. Thus, in developing tomorrow’s leaders, thinkers, and
creators, we must now put the right learning environment and course redesign to
the top of the academic priorities in education. Apprentices will then be
evaluating what worked well or not in all stages of their performance to make
the necessary changes for the next learning experience.
What changes have been made in your school environment? Have you ever had the opportunity to work collaboratively with your colleagues and start focusing your teaching on next generation education?
Share your
thoughts with us and leave your comments below.
References:
British Council (2015). Inglés en el Perú. Un análisis de la política,
las percepciones y los factores de influencia. Retrieved from: http://www2.congreso.gob.pe/sicr/cendocbib/con4_uibd.nsf/318A8FA6AC9F382105257F3E00611BB9/$FILE/Ingl%C3%A9s_en_el_Per%C3%BA.pdf
Schleicher, A. (2014). Transforming Education for the Next Generation A Practical Guide to
Learning and Teaching with Technology. Retrieved from:
Bio Data
Carmen Hurtado, graduated in the educational
field; she holds a Bachelor’s degree in Educational. She finished
her master’s studies in TEFL at Universidad
de Piura, and taken some specializations in the EFL and Spanish. Currently teaching online courses and has been a lecturer in the late Annual Congresses at CIDUP. She works as a teacher trainer and as a Academic Coordinator at Universidad del Pacifico Language Center.
