O/A/IGCSE Computer Science Blog

Teachers may use these habits to take their "student first" mantra beyond lip service and compete for bigger market share both in school/college jobs and personal tuition market. Over the years, I've spent a lot of time talking to different teachers about how they teach their classes. I've noticed something interesting in these discussions: Even though there's universal agreement that teacher success is centered on finding the right strategies, many teachers use a teacher or lecture-centric approach--rather than a student's-centric approach--to operating their classes. Over the course of almost two decades as teacher, I myself have evolved toward a more students-centered style of teaching. With a background in software engineering and business, I once assumed that most problems could be solved with enough available data and some logical thinking. But I've learned that a Spock-like, numbers-driven approach doesn't work, at least now ...

There are plenty of teachers who dream of having their big name, but few of them achieve the expert status often needed to gain students and peer support, recognition and turn the dream into a reality. Unfortunately, the sheer amount of information students consume makes it easy for talented teachers to appear faceless or identical to their peers. Behind Every Genius is A Thought Process Expert status requires a commitment to gain knowledge and energy to engage with students in your field, which can be daunting to a busy teacher. But wouldn't the benefit of a strong personal brand and established credibility go a long way in that pitch meeting you're sweating bullets over? Here are five habits to foster in order to cultivate your expertise and influence as a successful teacher: 1.  Own your subject. Though the time needed to develop expertise can vary, you need enough experience to understand the history of your subject, the different perspectives on it, and the dir...