MATHEMATICS TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF MATHEMATICS TEACHER INTRODUCTION

MATHEMATICS TEACHER ● PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF MATHEMATICS TEACHER INTRODUCTION ● ● Every subject has its own nature , characteristics and content related specifics. While talking about teaching and leaming of an individual subject , these aspects become more pertinent. Due to a sense of fear and failure , disappointing curriculum , crude assessment , inadequate teacher preparation and insufficient support in teaching of mathematics ( NCF - 2005 ) , the teaching of mathematics becomes more challenging and more demanding task. While dealing with abstractness of concepts using signs and symbols , simultaneously , the teacher has to try to make the learner visualise the concept in and around his / her own environment. For teaching and learning of mathematics , mathematics teachers should utilise not only classroom situations , but also situations and experiences from learner's locality. Though the role of the teacher has shifted with time from the sage on the stage to the guide by the side , if we go deep , it would be clear that the role of the teacher has become more challenging , more resourceful , more demanding , more updated , more sensitive , more concerning , more humanistic , more attentive , more facilitating and above of all more professional than ever before. Learner's quest and his / her problems in learning of mathematics have changed over the years and have acquired new dimensions at present. This demands greater efficiency and more professionalism on the part of the teacher. Today's mathematics teacher needs to be highly skillful , up - to - date with enriched new knowledge , new curriculum and policies in mathematics and its pedagogy. Hence , professional development of mathematics teacher has become important and vital for better teaching and learning of mathematics. Professional development of Mathematics teachers can be achieved through Inservice Training (INSET) programmes, Mathematics Teachers' Associations, Journals, Conferences, Seminars and Workshops, etc. which promote professional growth of mathematics teachers. In this Unit, we shall discuss the role of mathematics teachers and different ways of their developin professional growth.

General Qualities of Mathematics Teacher He should have (i) A well integrated and effective personality (ii) Leadership of qualities (iii)Llove for discipline (iv) Sympathetic, affective and impartial behavior (v) Qualities like patience, self-confidence, hard-working nature, dutybound punctuality, frankness and resourcefulness (vi)Aadequate expression power (well written as verbal) (vii)Love and respect for his profession (viii) Adequate general knowledge (ix) Undergone a suitable course like D. Ed. or B. Ed. (x) Knowledge of Current Trends Indian Modern Education (xi)Progressive and dynamic outlook (xii) Self-study of nature and habitat bluar blug 0 t slde (xiii) To help his students and desire for love in their self-development (xiv)Satisfactory mental health and adequate adjustment (xv) satisfactory relationships with parents of students and members of the community.

Special Qualities of Mathematics teacher: 1. He must be familiar with aims and objectives of teaching mathematics at all levels of education. 2. He must know and use the proper devices and techniques for the teaching of his subject. 3. He must have the necessary mathematical skills e. g. computational skill, drawing and sketching skills 4. He should possess a favorable attitude towards mathematics, know its values and importance for the individual and society 5. He should be able to inculcate proper interest in his students in his subject mathematics 6. He should be able to teach his students the practical use of the subject in mathematics day-to-day life and in other areas of learning. 7. He must possess the scientific attitude and ability to train his students in solving the problems with the scientific method. 8. He should possess the ability to organize mathematics club, guiding mathematical projects, and administering and scoring standardized tests. 9. He should be able to do action research for the better teaching and welfare of his students. 10. He should have the right interest in learning and acquiring new innovations and trends in mathematics teaching through in-service training, mathematics seminars, radio and television lessons. and visit good schools and educational research centers. lidad bim omnan 11. He should be able to provide guidance and remedial teaching in backward students in mathematics. ad 12. He should be able to correlate the teaching of mathematics with other subjects and areas of work experience. 13. He should be able to cultivate originality, creativity and ingenuity among his students in solving mathematical problems. 14. He should be able to inspire and guide the future of mathematicians. 15. He should be able to organize a well-established mathematics library as well

MATHEMATICS TEACHER As in the case of other teachers, many things are expected of the teacher of mathematics. His obligations not only are confined to the classroom but extend in many other directions also. It must not be forgotten, however, that his first and foremost obligation is to teach his subject effectively. Teaching mathematics is a task which, if sincerely undertaken, will challenge the best efforts of the best teacher. No teacher can do a thoroughly good job of teaching mathematics unless he is willing to make a careful analysis of his job and to be guided by that analysis. There are two equally important aspects of any true profession viz. , significant knowledge and effective technique. One cannot be efficiently professional if there is any serious weakness in either of the two. The beginning teacher will need to spend most of his time in improving his knowledge of his field and techniques of teaching, and becoming familiar with the traditions and administrative policies of the school. Gradually, however, his responsibilities outside the classroom also mul- tiply. These semi-professional duties will assume an importance second only to that of his classroom work. It will be appropriate here to discuss the nature, purpose and successful performance of these multifarious possibilities.

THE RANGE OF TEACHER ACTIVITIES AND HIS PROFESSIONAL QUALITIES his qualities and activities may be classified as follows : 1) Prerequisite qualifications. 2) Professional training. 3) Selective academic training. 4) Supervised practice teaching 5) In-service training. 6) Professional activities. 7) School activities 8) Mathematical organisations 9) Departmental duties 10) Administrative duties 11) Community activities etc. . The scope of each of these activities varies considerably from school to school and community to community. but they are all significant and call for serious consideration by the teacher.

1. PREREQUISITE QUALIFICATIONS Mastery is the subject of effective teaching for an absolute necessity. The teacher must possess a basic qualification. The level of his information should be much higher than that of the information he expected. Not only should he be a holder of a degree but also his aptitude in a matter of fact must have been specifically testified by his college teachers. His personal characteristics are no less important. These include general appearance, health, voice, poise, ability, energy, enthusiasm, cooperation, sense of humor, sense of justice, etc. He should prepare himself not only professionally, but also in mathematics, but have a background in other fields, such as physical and biological sciences, social studies, etc. This general education will give the teacher a broader outlook and a better perspective which is essential for an efficient discharge of his duties. Professional training is also a valuable asset to prioritize successful teaching experience. It will enable a person to acquire certain commendable charac teristics such as adaptability, efficiency, the knack of arousing interest, and the command's instructional material and ability to face the class with confidence.

2. PROFESSIONAL TRAINING : Before going into this training, he must make sure that he has a professional interest in mathematics and the teaching profession. The teacher should not only know mathematics but also the curriculum of other subjects. This is the essential purpose of correlation. He should possess a fair knowledge of the applications of mathematics. This is an extremely important factor in mathematics with great meaning and usefulness. He must acquire a good knowledge of educational psychology and be familiar with the laws of learning. The various factors governing knowledge are attention, interest, fatigue, perception, understanding, etc. , vitally affects his success in the classroom. The "Principles and Philosophy of Teaching" is also important for teaching and teaching the overall picture of doctrine and practice. As a part of his preparatory training, he is often required to observe the work of teachers in the classroom and to practice in the teaching school. The most important factors are effective classroom management and effective teaching techniques, which include many items of professional and training.

3)SELECTIVE ACADEMIC TRAINING: This is to be acquired through college education in the subject. It is, in a way, a pre-requisite for becoming a mathematics teacher. He should acquire of their understanding of the broad field of mathematical analysis and reasoning. Recent trends in the applications of mathematics demand that a course in mathematical statistics and probability be incorporated in teacher training. Statistics has numerous application in education, economics, industrial, scientific, social and other problems. The would be teacher should have acquaintance with effective and reliable methods of collecting, organising, analysing and concluding about statistical data. To enable him to understand applications of geometry and trigonometry, course in serving and in the use of instruments including mechanical drawing are of considerable value. A course in consumer mathematics will also provide a useful preparation for the profession. He should first acquire a fair knowledge of the fields closely allied to the mathematics and finally graft all the if two techniques of teaching.

4) SUPERVISED PRACTICE OF TEACHING: The importance of this part of training has already been emphasis ed. It should be done under the direct supervision of experienced teachers. The pupil teacher should get an opportunity of observing a few demonstration lessons by experienced teachers, and then he should be required to teach classes on those lines. He should always give a few discussion lessons. These lessons should be minutely observed and thoroughly discussed by a group consisting of his class fellows and a few experts. The chief aim should be to offer suggestions for the improvement of student teaching. His lessons should be supervised and evaluated. Such evolution should take into account aspects such as class preparation, teaching technique, management and control, personal and proper professional qualities and achievements. Practice teaching should truly mark the beginning of mature, reflective and analytic thought in examining and solving teaching difficulties.

5) IN-SERVICE TRAINING It has been introduced recently in the profession. Its value effectiveness in continuing the training of teachers to a higher plane of efficiency and competence are commonly recognised. The extension services departments attached to different teacher training institutions are organising it. Seminars and workshops are occasionally arranged for the subject teacher, but much depends on the teachers desire to learn and improve. The teachers should bring their problems and difficulties for free and frank discussion on such occasions. They should utilise the library service of the extension services departments. They should attend seminars and workshops with an open mind to learn. This is the training which should be availed of by them for keeping themselves up- to -date in respect of subject- matter and teaching techniques.

6) PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES: Each teacher should make definite provision for his own professional growth and development. Many ways may be found for this purpose. The teacher should study mathematical journals and modern books of professional interest. Any facility of in-service training should be availed of. Schools of outstanding merit may be visited to investigate the quality and nature of the work done. The teacher may do professional research work and write professional articles or books for publication. The teacher may participate in providing for the programmes and discussions of professional organisation by becoming an office- bearer of an organisation or a committee member. He should at least join their deliberations and try to contribute his best views.

Tagore has rightly said " A teacher can never teach unless he is still learning himself. A lamp can never light another lamp unless it continues to burn its own flame. " In the same way in - service education of mathematics teacher is a life long process in which a mathematics Teacher is constantly learning and adapting to new challenges of his job. We have several types of inservice courses , programmes and activities for inservice mathematics teachers. Let us learn about these different types of inservice education of mathematics teachers in this Section. Certain in - service courses can be offered to acquaint the teachers with new methods of teaching , approaches and new , changed or modified curriculum. These courses can be of varying durations. To keep the teachers alive to new developments , problems , concepts , a number of types of programmes are provided by different agencies. Different types of inservice mathematics education which help in the professional development of mathematics teachers are refresher courses , orientation programmes , seminars , workshops , professional conferences and meetings , panel discussions , lectures by educationists and mathematicians , self instructional materials , reading of books and journals , taking up projects , and action researches etc.

REFRESHER COURSES : These courses are conducted to enrich the content or to refresh the content of inservice teachers. Refresher courses conducted for mathematics teachers help them to enrich and refresh their mathematics knowledge and also to learn and understand more about different media , modes , methods , techniques to impart mathematics knowledge effectively and efficiently to the students. ORIENTATION PROGRAMMES: Such programmes are organized to orient the inservice teachers to develop certain competencies , skills and awareness and also to orient them about different policies , innovative methods of teaching or methodological aspects of teaching , new teaching strategies and techniques , curricular changes , new curriculum frame work etc. All these help the inservice mathematics teacher in improving his / her professional competence and acquire knowledge about latest developments in mathematics field. SEMINARS : One of the ways through which mathematics education can be provided to the inservice mathematics teachers is seminar. When a topic or theme in mathematics education requires in depth study , a seminar can be organized. In a seminar papers oa differentsub - topics related to the topic which require in - depth study are presented before an interested group and discussions will be held after the presentation of papers. Presentation of papers on a theme at the request of a chairperson which is circulated among the participants ( interested group ) and then having the discussion which is moderated by the chairperson is known as seminar. Such seminars provide worth while opportunities to the inservice mathematics teachers who participate in them.

WORKSHOPS: Workshops are generally used as one of the common modes for training inservice teachers. As other subject workshops, mathematies education related workshops are conducted to train inservice mathematics teachers. By participating in mathematics education related workshops mathematics teachers can gather useful information and get meaningful experience with regard to problems that they face while teaching mathematics or helping the students learn mathematics. They will also gather theoretical knowledge along with practical experience. Workshops are very popular and common modes of solving various types of educational problems connected with instruction. Workshops are usually organized to solve the instructional problems of the institution Workshops are also organized to develop workbooks , textbooks , design a syllabus , design instructional strategies etc. Variety of activities are organized in the workshops to provide required experiences to solve the problem in hand to provide full opportunity to work on selected problems intensivel. Usually in workshops small groups with common interests , mutuality of problems etc are constituted to facilitare discussion planning and problem solving activities. Such workshops are highly beneficial to mathematics teachers in solving problems they are confronted with and to improve their quality of teaching. PROFESSIONALS CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS : Other ways that are commonly used by organizations are professional conferences and meetings. By holding professional conferences and small group meetings around specific themes or problems , we can help the mathematics teachers in solving their problems. These conferences and meetings will help the teachers improving their teaching. The knowledge, ideas, insights and skills acquired through such sessions can be used in the classroom for making the teaching - learning process meaningful and interesting.

PANEL DISCUSSION: It is yet another technique that could be profitably used in improving the professional competence of inservice teacher. In this mode, panel of experts will first present their view on sected aspects of a problem to be taken-up for ducussion. Presentation will be followed by questions from audience and panel members will provide answers to the audience questions. Through panel discussion mathematics teachers can gather information and knowledge pertaining to a problem of common concern to teacher. LECTURES BY EDUCATIONIST AND MATHEMATICIANS: Lecturers organised in the schools on various topics related to school education, methodology of teaching, different Strategies and techniques of teaching by educationist will help the mathematics teacher to refresh his/her knowledge, methodologies of teaching etc. Lectures by mathematicians will of great help to the mathematics teacher in knowing more about his/ her subject and keep abreast with the developments in mathematics.

SELF- INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS AND METHODS : One of the ways that a mathematics teachers could use for their professional development is self - instructional material and methods. Much of the information skills , required of a mathematics teacher could be picked up through self directed activities such as reading books and articles on mathematics education. There is enough material on mathematics education and it is ever growing also. Mathematics teachers should make use of these materials for improving their teaching potentialities. There may be an article or a book , and in some cases there may be many , which may contain some solutions other may have found feasible. Hence professional materials should be regarded and consulted as resources of high priority to improve teaching. Mathematics teachers should be aware of different mathematics journals published and other periodical literature and research studies related to mathematics education. They should also know to use bibiliographies appearing in recent books or other publications related to mathematics education to identify additional materials. Self - learning materials , modules , programmed instructional materials , etc. related to mathematics education could be used by mathematics teachers without much dependence. These kinds of materials could be used by mathematics teachers to enrich their professional competence with little intervention by outside agencies.

ORGANIZATIONS We have several organizations such as National Council of Educational Research and Training ( NCERT ) , National Council f ubharor Teacher Education ( NCTE ) , National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration ( NIEPA ), State Council of Educational Research and Training ( SCERT ) , Colleges of Teacher Education ( CTE ) , Institute of Advanced Study in Education ( IASE ) etc. These organizations and institutions organize inservice training programmes, Short term courses , workshops , meetings , seminars etc for inservice mathematics teachers. Let us learn about these organizations in the following section. NATIONAL COUNCIL OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND TRAINING (NCERT) NCERT is an autonomous organization. It acts as an advisor to the Ministry Human Resource Development. The Council has five regional institutes of education in five different states. It also has National Institute of Education ( NIE ) and Central Institute of Educational Technology ( CIET ) under it. NCERT organizes pre - service and inservice training for all subject teachers at advanced level. It undertakes studies, investigations and surveys related to school education. It disseminates improved educational techniques and practices in schools. It also produces model textbooks, guide books , curriculum framework etc for all subject teachers all levels of school education. It also publishes journals and research reports. These will be of immense help to inservice mathematies teachers for their professional development. NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TEACHER EDUCATION ( NCTE ) NCTE is a statutory body of the Central Government. It has been assigned both regulatory and professional functions in all aspects of teacher education. It has an executive committee and a regional committee which work for it. Some of the functions of NCTE are to lay emphasis on continuing education of teachers , to advice the central Government , State Government, UGC , Universities and other agencies in matters relating to teacher education i. e priorities , policies , plans and programmes. It promotes coordinated development of teacher education.