Being a teacher requires one to be an expect in their subject or subjects. However It often happens that when teachers get to their assigned schools, they are given other subjects besides or in conjunction with the one they majored and trained in. I believe this is where the distaste of teaching certain subjects comes in.
My favourite lesson to teach
I am an English teacher. English is my second language after my home language. I once had English as a second additional language during my schooling years but despite this, I believe I command this language rather well. I may not be one hundred percent fluent but I manage to get my point across effectively.
What I love teaching in this subject is debating. I just recently hosted an internal debate amongst my learners. The reason why I love it this much is because of the lessons and skills it teachers. Here are a few advantages of debating:
Boots learner confidence
Any public speaking exercise is fantastic for building confidence in learners. At the beginning of the activity, most learners are shy and quite afraid of standing in front of a group of people, especially their peers and presenting on a topic. This translates in their unwillingness to participate in class discussions. Due to debating, this shyness falls away and a learner starts to believe in themselves and gains the confidence to conquer the world.
Improving listening and higher order thinking skills
To be a great debater, active listening is a critical skill to master. To win in debating it is crucial to listen to flaws in the opponent's argument. These weaknesses in their argument provide the perfect ammunition to crash their reasoning and earn points. This translate in the real world as a valuable skill that the learner could use after graduating high school.
Being analytical, evaluating speech, and creatively thinking on the spot improves higher order thinking skills. There's only so much one can prepare for when gathering facts for a debate. A great deal of sources will come from analysing and evaluating the competition's research. Such abilities require an impressive deal of thinking skills.
Improvement in speech
The most obvious benefit of debating is mastering speech. Speaking is a skill that is acquired. No one is born an exceptional speaker but practice is behind the impressiveness of the speaker.
My least favourite subject to teach
Until recently I had to teach history to fourth and fifth graders. Can anyone imagine how significantly challenging it is to teach 10 year and 11 year olds about Mahatma Gandhi from India when all they know about History is a figure named Nelson Mandela? That's all they know, a name. It's hard enough to keep their attention just by talking, now imagine teaching about the past. It was quite frustrating. I exchanged my history periods for geography ones with mu older colleague. I was teaching both History and Geography and now I'm only teaching geography which is a huge relief.
