The Concept Of Teaching Practicum

The Concept Of Teaching Practicum Teaching practicum concerns preparation of teachers and its use has embraced all the learning experiences of student teachers in schools. The purpose of reviewing related literature is to explore ideas of teaching practicum. This review will discuss three main ideas, namely, overview of the concept of beliefs and teaching practicum, theoretical framework and related research studies. 2.1 The concept of teaching practicum Teaching practicum is almost universally accepted today as the climax of a teachers professional preparation in pre-service teacher education programs. According to the studies of Gower Walters (1983), the teaching practice programme is the major essential component in professional education. Teaching practicum is defined as those periods of continuous practice twelve weeks (depends on the particular teacher training college or university) in school constitute an obligatory part of the course in colleges or universities of education. This period of practical experience is also called by various term, clinical experience, student teaching, teaching practice as well as practicum. During the teaching practicum, student teacher conducts classroom lessons and performs the duties of a teacher in school. According to the Teacher Training Division Guidelines on practicum for pre-service teacher training (2005), teaching practicum provide opportunities for student teacher to practice theories in teaching and learning practices and to develop individual teaching and learning theories. The main aim of teaching practicum is to produce effective school teachers and not merely classroom teacher. Student teachers are also provided with opportunities for a variety of encounters with children in schools. This means that student teachers are not only know how to teach effectively in class but are also able to handle co-curricular activities as well. In short, teaching practicum programme is to equip future teachers with the essential experiences which can lead to the development of their professional competencies. Teaching practicum aims for student teachers to master and practice all the concepts, principles, skills and values in order to become a professional teacher. 2.2 What is belief ? According to Michaela Borg (2001), belief is a proposition which may consciously or unconsciously held, is evaluative in that it is accepted as true by the individual, and there imbued with emotive commitment; further, it serves as guide to thought and bahaviour. On the other hand, Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) define belief as information, factual, and nonfactual cognitions. Cognition is described as what someone knows or assumes to be true (Berkowitz, 1980, p. 275). No matter what is ones belief, the beliefs still play an important role in many aspects of teaching, as well as in life. It is because these beliefs help individuals make sense of the world, influencing how new information in perceived, and whether it is accepted or rejected. Nevertheless, beliefs differ from knowledge, although they are related to each other, in that beliefs do not always represent the truth. Beliefs are not only considered as discipline-dependent (Tsai, 2002), but beliefs also include understandings, assumptions, images or propositions that are felt to be true (Kagan, 1992 Richardson, 1996). 2.3 Theoretical framework 2.3.1 Teachers Beliefs Shulman (1986) claimed that a teacher needs to know about the subject matter, to know a variety of general instructional strategies, and to know about the specific strategies necessary for teaching particular subject matter. Most of us would also agree that the good teacher transforms curriculum goals and guidelines in such a way that a particular student is able to master and understand the related content. Dan Lortie states that ones personal predispositions are not only relevant but, in fact, stand at the core of becoming a teacher. Teachers belief is a term usually used to refer to teachers pedagogic beliefs, or those beliefs of relevance to an individual teaching. The areas most commonly explored are teachers beliefs about teaching, learning, and learners; subject matter; self as a teacher, or the role of a teacher (Calderhead, 1995). Besides that, teachers beliefs do play a central role in the process of teacher development. Those beliefs form part of the process of understanding how teachers conceptualize their work as a teacher. Tattos (1996, p. 155) important work on beliefs concluded lay cultural norms among enrollees are strongly ingrained and that most teacher education, as it is currently structured, is a weak intervention to alter particular views regarding the teaching and management of diverse learners. Another study shows that a persons belief system has pervasive effects in different spheres of activity- ideological, conceptual, perceptual, and esthetic (Rokeach, 1960, p. 288). In addition, Brown found that certain philosophical beliefs and educational beliefs were effective in predicting agreement-disagreement with experimentalism of classroom practice. Indications were that professed educational beliefs had a generalized effect on teaching behavior; specific fundamental beliefs were most powerful in influencing specific classroom behaviors (Brown Webb, 1968, p. 215). To support those beliefs, Clark and Peterson (1986) proposed that: The most resilient or core teachers beliefs are formed on the basis of teachers own schooling as young students while observing teachers who taught them. Subsequent teacher education appears not to disturb these early beliefs, not least, perhaps, because it rarely addresses them. If teachers actually try out a particular innovation which does not initially conform to their prior beliefs or principles and the innovation proves helpful or successful, then accommodation of an alternative belief or principle is more possible than in any other circumstance. For the notice teacher, classroom experience and day to day interaction with colleagues has the potential to influence particular relationships among beliefs and principles, and, over time, consolidate the individuals permutation of them. Nevertheless, it seems that greater experience does not lead to greater adaptability in our beliefs and, thereby, the abandonment of strongly held pedagogic principles. Quite the contrary in fact. The more experience we have, the more reliant on our core principles we have become and the less conscious we are doing so. Professional development which engages teachers in a direct exploration if their beliefs and principles may provide the opportunity for greater self-awareness through reflection and critical questioning as starting points for later adaptation. The teachers conceptualizations of, for example, language, learning, and teaching are situated within that persons wider belief system concerning such issues as human nature, culture, society, education and so on. Consequently, teachers belief about the importance of teaching have a great impact on their teaching practices (Salmon, 1988). The next section will look at teachers belief about teaching practicum. 2.3.2 Teachers belief about teaching practicum The term practicum is used generically to refer to the different types of school attachment; namely, school experience, teaching assistantship, teaching practice and so forth that pre-service students will be undergoing as part their initial teacher preparation programme. The school-based practicum is designed to enable student teachers to observe a teachers real work of work, and to apply and refine the knowledge and skills acquired through course-work in classroom teaching. Student teachers are to use the opportunities during the practicum to integrate education theory and practice and to widen their practical experiences. In the context of teaching practicum, a student teacher is expected to apply what they have learned theoretically. To maximize the utility of practicum, it is important that teacher trainers actively promote the effective learning during the practicum period. Effective learning should be concerned with the learning of organized wholes of knowledge. It is a process that involves developing the ability to identify the objectives one is seeking and, within a flexible framework, optimizing a programme to meet these objectives, in line with individual learning attributes. Effective learning also needs to achieve transference of knowledge from the artificiality of a training course, to practical application where the trainees adapts acquired knowledge to the perceived needs of a particular problem or situation (Robotham, 2003). Many researches claim that teaching practicum is a central element in most pre-service teacher education programmes. Many also debates about the assessment of the practice of student teachers often reflect ongoing philosophical debates about the nature of teacher education (Brown, 1996) and traditional barriers between teachers and academics (Groundwater-Smith, 1997). A set of written criteria used to assess the competence of pre-service secondary teacher education students during practicum. The dimensions of the assessment protocol did not appear to be based on any articulated theory of good teaching practice, and there were significant doubts about the extent to which the various groups of stakeholders had a shared understanding of the standards implied in the criteria. In education what we label as standards are socially constructed and frequently fuzzy (Sadler, 1987) and require the shared understanding of a construct in a community of practice (Wiliam, 1996). 2.4 Related Research Studies 2.4.1 Pre-service teachers beliefs about teaching practicum Prior to actual teaching experiences, pre-service teachers derive their initial views on teaching from at least two sources. Firstly, it comes from their personal experiences as students, consisting of their interactions with and exposures to various teachers throughout their school life, with such factors having a tendency to influence their reasons for career choice, as well as beliefs and practices on their professional lives (Ben-Petetz, 2003; Bramald, Hardman, Leat, 1995; Saban, 2003). Secondly, it results from pre-service teachers forming their conceptual repertoires as they undergo the formal training provided by teacher educational programs (Bermald, 1995; Dunkin, Precian, Nettle, 1994; Nettle, 1998), initially consisting of theoretical knowledge through foundation and methods courses, and eventually progressing or culminating into the application of such theories via the so-called practice teaching. Few studies have been done in pre-service teachers. The following assumptions are fundamental to a justification of practice as a part of the training of teachers: Teaching is behavior, and as behavior is subject to analysis, change, and improvement. Much of the habitual behavior which individuals have developed in other contexts is inappropriate for the teaching situation. Under present conditions, much teaching is conducted under conditions of stress. Teaching is an extremely complex kind of behavior, involving the full range of thought processes, communication and physical action. Teachers, through practice can learn to analyze, criticize and control their own teaching behavior. Practice has the dual purpose of training and the elimination of the unfit. Practice provides the experience which gives meaning to many other aspects of instruction in education (teaching). The beliefs of pre-service TESL teachers have may merit their own exploration. These beliefs may influence students in acquisition of knowledge, selection and definition of specific teaching tasks, and interpretation of knowledge, and interpretation of course content. Puchta (1999) asserts that beliefs are guiding principles of our students behavior and strong perceptual filtersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ they act as if they were true. On the other hand, Dunkin (1994) claims that how student-teachers views on teaching may be influenced by formal teaching practicum programme. Kennedy (1996) hypothesizes that real and effective change in teachers practices can only occur through a change in their beliefsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the way teachers behave.

Healthcare & Current regulatory policy

The Current regulatory policy touching on the healthcare professionals is grounded on the believe that the marketplace of these professionals services fails because of the lack of full information concerning the healthcare services on the part of the consumers of these services (Haas-Wilson, 2010). That way a number of professionals in this field can offer low quality services at prices that are not commensurate to the quality of the services to gullible consumers without the fear of being told to account for these compromised services that even flout professional ethics of the healthcare profession (Haas-Wilson, 2010).Healthcare professional are always very quick to defend the existence of these regulations arguing that they ensure that healthcare professionals are offering high quality healthcare services to each and every client of these services irrespective of whether they are informed of their right to quality healthcare services or not (Drake, 2008). Whether they ensure qualit y service to clients the way healthcare professionals argues is still a subject of intense debate.However, it is not in contention that by dictating the minimum qualification and experience that a healthcare professional should have in order to practices, there a big number of quacks who are restrain from infiltrating the lucrative healthcare market (Drake, 2008). The regulatory agencies that have been mandated to pass rules and regulations that will be used to govern the practice of the healthcare professional is also another major step at protecting the clients of these services and ensuring that they get only the best and most appropriate services.The restriction especially on advertising on the other hand which also makes up these regulations also go along way in enabling that the clients of these services make informed decision free from any influence when looking for the healthcare services. Reasons for the existence of mal-distribution of physicians in spite the high number o f physicians graduating from medical school The problem of mal-distribution of the healthcares professional is not a new phenomenon in the United States especially in the rural areas (Rapaport, 1980).This has continued despite the government intervention and even the high number of medical graduates graduating from our universities and other institutions of higher learning offering medical disciplines. Healthcare professional in this case refers to the likes of nurses, nurse practitioners, physician, and physician assistants. One of the reasons for this state of affair is due to the fact a large number of healthcare practitioners prefers to locate their medical facilities in the metropolitan areas because of their high population (Sign, & Shi, 2009).Another factor that is aggravating the already worse situation is the fact that many medical practitioners are leaving graduate school as specialists like retina specialist thereby making their application in the rural areas untenable (S ign, & Shi, 2009). Effects of this distribution in the context of diverse special populations There are a number of problems that are associated with this mal-distribution in the United States, some of these concerns that are associated with this kind of lopsided distribution include cost, access and finally quality.With scanty availability of healthcare services in most rural areas the question of high cost begin to haunt the consumers of this services. The few who are practicing in these rural areas can increase costs of these services without improving on quality of the same (Sign, & Shi, 2009). The same applies to the quality of the services which happens because of few practitioners, lack of enough information and inadequate regulation (Rapaport, 1980). Finally, the access of these services also becomes a problem to the dweller of these areas primarily because of the high healthcare practitioner to patient’ ratio (Rapaport, 1980).References Haas-Wilson, Deborah, (2010). The Regulation of Health Care Professionals Other Than Physician. Retrieved 25 July 2010 from http://www. cato. org/pubs/regulation/regv15n4/reg15n4d. html Drake, M. Dawn, (2008). Examining the Issue of Mal-Distribution of Physician through GIS: A Case Study of Retina Specialists in the United States. Retrieved 25 July 2010 from

Les Miserables Essay

Les Miserables (the title is the same in French and English) is the most well-known of Victor Hugo’s novels. It describes the miserable life of French workers, and especially their children. Hugo calls for social action to improve the unfortunate poor’s lives. This excerpt describes the character Marius, and how he has worked very hard to succeed in life. Excerpt from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (1802-1885) Misery is the same with anything else. As time passes, it gradually becomes bearable. Marius had emerged from the narrow passage of his life; now the path widened out a bit. Through sheer hard work, courage, and a strong will, he had managed to earn around seven hundred francs a year. He had learned English and German. Thanks to Courfeyrac, the man who introduced him to his publisher friend, Marius held a position in the literary department of the publishing house, where he filled the useful role of utility. He wrote prospectuses, translated articles from journals, annotated publications, compiled biographies, and so on. His net gain, year in, year out, was seven hundred francs. He was able to survive on this income. How? Not badly. Here is how he lived. For a yearly rent of thirty francs, Marius lived in a miserable little room without a fireplace in the Gorbeau tenement. There was only a bare minimum of furniture which belonged to him. He paid the old woman who took care of the building a sum three francs a month to sweep his room, and bring him some warm water, a fresh egg, and a small loaf of bread every morning. This egg and bread cost him between two and four cents, because eggs varied in price. At six o’clock in the evening, he went downstairs to eat dinner at Rousseau’s in the Rue Saint Jacques. He had no soup, but he ate a plate of meat for six pennies, half a plate of vegetables for three pennies, and a dessert for the same price. As for bread, he could eat as much as he liked for three pennies, but instead of wine, he drank water. Then he paid at the counter, where Madame Rousseau sat majestically, a large woman with a pleasant face. She would smile as Marius handed the waiter a one penny tip. Then he left the restaurant. For a total of sixteen cents, he got a dinner and a smile. †¦.. Marius had two complete suits, one of them old, that he wore for everyday use, and the other one new, which he wore on special occasions. Both suits were black. He owned only three shirts: the one he had on, another one that was in the bureau drawer, and the third one that was at the laundry woman’s. When they wore out, he replaced them with new ones, but generally, his shirts were ragged, so he buttoned his coat up to his chin. To reach this stage of prosperity, it had taken Marius many hard, difficult years: years of barely getting by, and years of trudging along. He had never once given up. He had struggled and done without, he had been through every hardship, except going into debt. Instead of borrowing money, he went without food. There had been many days of fasting. During all his hard times, he actually felt encouraged, and sometimes he even felt a certain inner strength. In addition to the memory of his father, Marius carried the memory of Thà ©nardier in his heart. He envisioned the man surrounded by a halo, the brave sergeant Thà ©nardier who had saved his father, a colonel, when he found him among the cannon fire and bullets at Waterloo. Marius always kept the memory of this man together with the memory of his father, and he felt great admiration for them both. It was a bit like a form of worship in two steps. The high altar was reserved for his father the colonel, and the low one for Thà ©nardier. His feelings of gratitude for the man were strengthened by the knowledge that Thà ©nardier had suffered a horrible misfortune. Marius found out that as an unlucky innkeeper, Thà ©nardier had gone bankrupt. After learning this, Marius made countless efforts to track down the miserable Thà ©nardier, who had disappeared. Marius blamed and hated himself for not being able to locate him. He felt that the only debt his father had left him was to succeed in finding Thà ©nardier. Marius felt it was his duty to pay him that tribute. â€Å"After all,† he thought, â€Å"when my father lay dying on the battlefield, it was Thà ©nardier who was able to find him through the smoke, and carry him away on his shoulders. Yet he owed Thà ©nardier nothing, whereas I, who owe so much to Thà ©nardier, cannot get to him in his time of darkness and suffering. I cannot, in my turn, restore him to life. Oh! I will find him!†

The Communication Plan For Breast Cancer - 1991 Words

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