This blog post will entail my reflection upon seeing the results of my Teaching Perspectives Inventory (TPI) test. I decided to take up formal teaching lessons at this point of my life because of my desire to help others with skills, knowledge and understanding of certain fields of endeavor that have been my work’s and life’s experience.
Perspectives
This take on teaching has changed my perspective on the subject. Firstly, because of my lack of professional teaching experience, and secondly, because of a realization that my knowledge on the matter may not be as obsolete as I expected.
Coming across the results of my TPI test, there seems to be more that should be asked for from me. Unlike the rest of the group, my grade equivalent in Transmission was lower than the rest. Though mastery of the craft and the content is essential and puts the teacher in a good position with respect to the student, I have to admit that I always find myself better in practice than in theory.
From the point of view of somebody with experience in management and interacting with other individuals as a crucial aspect of my objectives, activities that are sworn into the concept of delegation and empowerment, I now wish to learn more about developing people, to instill in them a mindset for problem solving, and to be inquisitive and independent of the status quo.
However, what I like most about being predominant in the Apprenticeship indicator is my nature of bringing learning conditions as close as possible to reality, which is a skill that I developed from sports-coaching, where the content of my teaching came from my personal experience. For the same reason, I value model mugging, as it does not deviate from actual roles that occur in reality.
Styles
I was pleasantly surprised that even Grasha (1994) wrote about the work of Hersey and Banchard about leadership styles being relevant in a classroom set-up. In the same writing, Hersey and Blanchard spoke about people’s behavior and experiences are factors at utilizing leadership styles. Again, I will acknowledge the fact that, as a learner in teaching in this day and age, I have much to understand with regard to what styles and methods will suit different groups of learners.
As there must be a blending or migration of styles in different cluster formations as suggested by Grasha (Ibid.), I have observed that methodologies and strategies may also overlap. An example of this are case studies that can end up in position or term papers, integrating styles ranging from facilitator to expert, along the way.
Take-home message
Teaching is both complex art and science. We may look at concepts in formulae and grids but it never fails to bring us back into the reality that society intended for this endeavor to be multi-faceted, affecting behaviors outside the immediate realm of the educator. As such, teaching and its perspectives must also evolve and must continue to bring first blood to anyone who desires to educate.
—
References
Grasha, A. F. (1994). A Matter of Style: The Teacher as Expert, Formal Authority, Personal Model, Facilitator, and Delegator. College Teaching, vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 142-149. Retrieved from http://jstor.org/stable/27558675
The Life of a RunningAdik 
Leave a Reply