Self management is an ATL (Approaches To Learning) skill which every IB student should exhibit as they grow in the their learning process. However, according to Solomon Ortiz:
“Education is the key to success in life and teachers make a lasting impact in the lives of their student”
So, do we as educators understand and exhibit the self-management skill, as we want from our students? We can only achieve what we want when we know and understand what we want.
Self-management skill is not limited to meeting deadlines and submitting assignment on time as per the requirement. It can be further categorized into three strands each with its own significance:
- Organization skill: It is the ability to use time, energy, resource etc. in an effective manner. As an educator, we need to use our time and knowledge in a way, which benefits the organization and the students, but at the same time, we should also be balanced. This means there should be a good balance between personal and professional life.
Some strategies to improve organization skills for educators:
- Make a daily checklist of work.
- Place the work on the checklist in a priority order.
- Organize your work place.
- Do not hesitate in taking help from others
- Discuss activities for the class with the parallel teachers.
- Plan your class at least a day prior.
- Give some time to yourself every day, doing something in which you are interested and which mentally relax you.
2. Affective Skills: As per dictionary, the word ‘affective’ is related to growth of emotions or feelings. Affective skill means the skills of gaining or valuing knowledge is affected closely by emotional state of the learner. This skill is very closely relate to Learner Profile: caring and balanced.
In Bloom’s taxonomy the development of this skill is explained as a pyramid starting from base to top:
Receiving information is to listen attentively with respect and respond by discussing in the group (applicable of all subjects), doing presentation (Like role-play in languages) or following safety rules (as in sciences). Be sensitive to the information received and value it keeping the individual and cultural differences in mind. Organization of the information is done as per priority and finally be able to make prediction or solve the problem which means internalize the valued information.
Some strategies to improve affective skills as an educator:
- Treat every student equally
- Listen to students problem
- Respond to their queries on time
- Give instructions in realistic, relevant and technically stimulating way.
- Involve students in planning, production or delivery of knowledge
3. Reflective Skills: Reflection promotes critical approach to teaching. What we think? What happened and how we can do it differently next time? Bring a change to our teaching methodology. For this skill the important components move in a cycle:
Some Strategies to improve reflective skills:
- Discuss with parallel teachers after the class.
- Think after the class and note down what went well and what can be improved for next time.
- Record students behavior by taking photographs, making notes or recording the class.
- Think were students engaged throughout the class.
- Think were you able to reach every student with your teaching.