Doors and Disabilities

Doors and Disabilites

 

When I decided to become a professional in the education field I didn’t realize the amount of doors that could be left open or closed to me in relation to methodical teachings.

 

While initially I began looking into teaching as a way to see the world and gain new knowledge about different parts of the world, I felt exuberant in knowing that I would continue learning in various fields that I may not normally have kept up with.

 

I find staff meetings for example, particularly useful when staff who have gone out to specialized courses share and challenge each other with techniques they’ve learned in mathematics, literature, and other subject areas. I am not the quickest wit when it comes to maths, and because of this, I always enjoy working out problems with the Year 6’s. Some methods relying on number lines in Year 4 however, still have me re-learning simple procedures I solve in different or what we would call more traditional ways. 

 

When first approaching a problem I feel I know how to solve it using the one method I know how, and it feels good to be learning from the students the different ways they’re finding their answers. Together we can learn to jog each other’s memories, and practice other strategies we’ve learned in solving other part questions. Likewise to subject matter, we can learn a lot in the ways we teach to pupils. 

 

I place a lot of value on my experiences abroad as it gives me different insights in how to deal with both behavioral and strategic teaching methods. Different countries have different ways of looking at a problem and addressing it for the benefit of teachers and/or students.

 

Of course there are always politics in the world of teaching and the ever changing education system, however it’s interesting to see which countries have similar goals and overall drive compared to others which may throw any new foreign teacher into a learning curve. For example, learning disabilities in my experience here in England, have been well met and adapted for and there’s always materials to be used to help you as a professional grow more personal and capable in dealing with the needs of students who require additional assistance. Communication among staff is concurrent and continually enhanced as knowledge about students’ needs become prevalent. 

 

In South Korea, where I taught for a year, learning disabilities were often not discussed or addressed for fear of alienating and discriminating against an individual or their family. Thus, I wasn’t pushed with the appropriate guidance and communication with the parents or other homeroom teacher to better meet that students’ needs.

 

As a result, as a professional, I was at a standstill as I had less information about something I struggled to gain experience with. Since these issues went unaddressed I was left to figure out a puzzle without a box to guide me. Dependent on my own tactics and research I was shooting in the dark and making guesses as to what might work in my classroom. 

 

While this indeed brought about positive and alternately, not so ground-breaking lessons, I was able to scramble together what I needed to do from my own findings. I find here, with so many people offering suggestions, and so many areas to look and workout what needs doing to help the disadvantaged student, success is more readily found without having to so many closed doors. 

 

In the old saying that ‘two heads are better than one’ England as a country in which I’m able to work, offers a lot of political and educational rights that each individual student and teacher is entitled to when it comes to gathering data and working towards a common goal. Even though I’m far from home, the system works in a matter that familiarizes me with the system I was geared towards in Canada. 

 

Unlike in many other countries in which we can use our profession, unless we are to luckily work for an international school, some of these 

open doors, are sadly closed due to those intriguing and desired cultures.

 

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Supply Teaching: Reading a Staff Room

Gaining Teaching Experience in South Korea - also by Heather