Workshop on Teaching as a Profession and Career Guidance

Teaching as a Profession and Career Guidance

Resource Person:  A. Anbuvanan, Head Master, Dhanalakshmi Higher Secondary School. 
Date: 03.06.2022 

Forenoon Session: A. Anbuvanan Sir addressed us warmly before beginning his session sharply at 10.00 AM. He started off with an engaging discussion on the meaning of the term "Discipline" and arrived at the conclusion that "Discipline" is synonyms with "Obedience" in the context of School Children. He urged the importance of discipline in School and how the parents community has a regard for "disciplined Schools". He talked about the real challenges faced by the Student who choose Teaching as their Profession. He gave various guidelines for seeking teaching Jobs at Schools. 
Afternoon Session: Then he discussed about how important to have a self-awareness about our interest, as interests of every individual varies. He gave out questionnaire on "My Interest Profile". It is a method to access the priority interests of an individual. Interest are subdivide into five Categories: Linguistic Interests(L), Analytical Logical Interests(AL), Spatial Interests(S), Personal Interests(P), Physical Mechanical Interests(PM). I got 14 on Linguistic Interests(L), 21 on Analytical Logical Interests(AL) and Spatial Interests(S),  and 7 each for the rest. A teacher is expected to have a good score in Linguistic Interests(L) and Personal Interests(P).

Each have 12 sub-interests. we gotta choose 10 interests of with five are the best of interests of each five categories and the last five can we filled in four ways. (a) (5+0)-method: choose one category to choose five sub-interests. (b)(4+1)-method: chose two categories to choose four from one and one from another. (c)(3+2)-method: c chose two categories to choose three from one and two from another. (d)(2+2+1)-method: choose three categories to choose two from first, two from second and one from the third. List the numbers of sub-interests in the 10 for each category and multiply by 7.  

Then he talked about various job appourtunites of a Teacher. He also discussed various alternate career options. He emphasised the importance of preparing for various exam conducted by out Government, thus ending the session.

The session was interactive, explained well and sequentially ordered for our clear understanding. Many ideas are explained with engaging demonstrations. The Activity session was fun. The questionnaire was my favourite part of the session. Knowing about my interests will be helpful for me in my career.

He started off with what can we do studying a subject- we can teach or do research or apply what we have learnt. He praised the profession of teaching that makes other Professions. Then he explained us the difference between work, job and career. Work- Any activity performed the requires energy and time. Job- Any work done that is of monetary interest is called Job. Career: A professional qualification that produces  many jobs is called a Career.

He, as being a member of interview panel for several years, shared with us the expectations of an interviewer while interviewing for a Teacher and the education trends and demands in the current era. We then discussed about the various challenges faced by a Teacher in our community; it is basically the ethical and moral behaviour with our student and colleague  that affect out career as a Teacher.

"Exam hall is not the place for sympathy" 

He explaining us about the growing less desirability of a good Handwriting of the students yet he claimed the Good handwriting can help student express neatness in the exam paper, this same learning transforms to our notebook neatness, then School bag neatness and consequently the neatness of the whole outfit and behaviour.

Then we had an activity session before break, in which he split us all into five groups and asked us all to make toys for kids with newspaper within seven minutes. By the end of the seven minutes the toys of the five teams were displayed and the speaker counted all the valid toys of each group and appreciated the creativity exuded from the students. As a lesson from the activity session, he invited us all to understand how we can engage School children and make their time at school happy just with a bundle of old newspapers. He advised against demanding extravagant material-goods from students.

After break, he Presented a colourful flowchart presentation of the structure of School Education System followed in Tamil Nadu which are classified into three and highlighted the objectives and difficulties faced in each stage. Also he talked about the types of student we can see in out class: 1. Looker, 2. Listener and 3. Mover. A class has  economic disparity amounts, common problems faced by the students, challenges faced by the students, teachers and Parents. He stress some important qualities a teach should have such as,

• Attentive observation to students.
• empathetic listening.
• showing concern and interest on the Students.