Day 2

Topics: Effective Teaching Skills - Teaching Philosophy - NPST - E Portfolio

 From the start of session, marked improvement in discussions and pace of training can be observed. I also got tuned to the online session and this helps me in keeping myself on track. Our trainer started from where we left yesterday that is allowing the groups to present their knowledge about Job Description. This discussion got prolonged as teachers were sharing their practical challenges in fulfilling their job. What I learn is teacher should have the ability to take up such challenges and make it an opportunity to grow professionally. Our next discussion was on the effective teaching skills. Participants shared various traits through chat box and open discussions while our trainer summed up the discussion by sharing with us 21st century skills in learning environment. Our next discussion was based on Teaching Philosophy. With the help of a resource provided by the trainer, we were being asked to write the statement of our teaching philosophy. This was another exercise of reflective practice. I completed this task during lunch break. He shared an official document developed by Federal Government 'National Professional Standards for Teachers in Pakistan'.  In break out room 2, we were assigned to discuss and prepare Standard 3 & 4 from NPST along with the case studies for reflection. My team members were very cooperative. Some of them could not access the document. I tried to share in the room but seems like there was some permission issue due to which I was not able to do it. But through chat box soon all of us had the reading material. Our group coordination makes our task easier. I was being asked to present 3rd standard which was Islamic Ethics and Values. One thing which I found lacking in myself was my focus remained on the one which I presented while I lost all the focus once I was done with the presentation. I understand that the purpose of such jig-saw activities is to share knowledge of sections of a topic, of which each group become master of! For my class lesson, I thus have to become more vigilant and have to include strategies for my students which motivates them to listen to other group work also. Trainer summarized this most important topic and we then move on to the development of E-Portfolio which up till now seemed to me the most challenging part of this training. Trainer showed us few samples of e-portfolio where the layout was very professional looking. I have some experience of using Sway but to create a website of my own is more challenging and will provide a learning opportunity. I have designed my school's website through wixsite but exploring google site will be a new experience. So right now, I am excited but at the same time feeling anxious about this task. Collecting evidence will also be a challenging part of portfolio. But with the help of my trainer and by putting best of my efforts and time I will inshallah achieve the objective. As our trainer explained, idea of e-portfolio can become the reason of my continuous professional development.