BPT1501

BEING A PROFESSIONAL TEACHER (PORTFOLIO)

UNIQUE NO: 887784.
MAVIMBELA SABELO PERCY | STUDENT NO: 4385 269 6 | October 19, 2018
 Table of contents.

Home.
1.1 Introduction ……………………………………………………….…………………...….……………2

The Additional Roles of a Good Teacher.

2.1 Resource Provider………………………………………………………………………………………3
2.2 Learning Facilitator…………………………………………………………….……………….….….3
2.3 Role modeling…………………………………………………………………………………………….3
2.4 Monitoring …………………………………………………………………………………………….….4
2.5 Organizer ……………………………………………………………………………………………….….4
2.6 Surrogate Parent…………………………………………………………………………………….….4

My Best Assignment (critical reflections).

3.1 Assignment no: 03……………………………………………………………………………….….….5

Challenges and Intricacies Encountered as a Student.

4.1 The Greatest difficulty I experienced in all assignment I was requested to
submit…………………………………………………………………………………………………………6
4.2 An Assignment that I found most difficult to do and reason
why……………………………………………………………………………………….….…………….….6
4.3 What I did to overcome the problems I mentioned in 4.2
above………………………………………………………………………………………………………….7

Self-Reflection.
5.1 Five academic reasons, explanations and examples that suggest this online
module has empowered me………………………………………………………………….……8
5.2 Overall impression of the module “Being a Professional
Teacher(BPT1501)”……………………………………………………………………………………10

Declaration.

References.

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 Introduction.

Welcome to my BPT online portfolio. I am delighted to have you taking your

valuable time reading this portfolio. Enclosed in this portfolio is a detailed
experience of the journey that I embarked on in this module. The aim of
this portfolio is to give a summary of what I have learned in this module
and how it can help me become a professional teacher. However, I cannot
forget to say that this module was meaningful and enriching to me and I am
looking forward to using what I have learned in this module in my career as
a professional teacher.

My journey includes experiences such as: the additional roles of a good

teacher, critical reflections (my best assignment), the greatest difficulty I
experienced which includes the assignment I found to be most difficult to
me and the reasons why it was difficult to me. Lastly, I also discussed how I
overcame the difficulties I encountered, my self-reflection on this module,
academic reasons that suggest this online module has empowered me and
my overall impression on this module.

I hope and believe that you will find this portfolio interesting, fun and easy
to interact with. Best wishes as you go through my portfolio. Once again
you are WELCOME!!!

Thank you.

Sabelo Percy Mavimbela

Student no: 4385 269 6.

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 The Additional Roles of a Good Teacher.

4.2 Resource Provider:

Teachers help their colleagues by sharing instructional resources. These might
include Web sites, instructional material, readings, or other resources to use
with students. They might also share such professional resource as articles,
books, lesson or unit plans, and assessment tools.
For example: Tinisha becomes a resource provider when she offers to help
Carissa, a new staff member in her second career, set up her classroom. Tinisha
gives Carissa extra copies of a number line for her students to use, signs to post
on the wall that explains to students how to get help when the teacher is busy.

2.2 Learning Facilitator:

Facilitating professional learning opportunities among staff members is another
role for teachers. When teachers learn with and from another, they can focus on
what directly improves student learning. Their professional learning becomes
more relevant, focused on teacher’s classroom work, and aligned to fill gaps in
student learning. Such communities of learning can break the norms of isolation
in many schools.
For example: Frank facilitates the school’s professional development committee
and serves as the committee’s language art representative. Together, teachers
plan the year’s professional development program using a back mapping model.
This model begins with identifying students learning needs, teacher’s current
level of knowledge and skills in the target areas, and types of learning
opportunities that different groups of students need.

2.3 Role Modeling:

Teachers typically do not think of themselves as role models, however,
inadvertently they are. Students spend a great deal of time with their teachers
and therefore, the teacher becomes a role model of them. This can be a positive
or negative effect depending on the teacher. Teachers are there not only to
teach the children, but also to love and care for them. Teachers are typically
highly respected by people in the community and therefore become a role
model to students and parents.

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2.4 Mentoring:
Mentoring is a natural role taken on by teachers, whether it is intentional or not.
This again can have positive or negative effects on children. Mentoring is a way a
teacher encourages students to strive to be the best they can. This also includes
encouraging students to enjoy learning. Part of mentoring consists of listening to
students. By taking time to listen to what student say, teachers impart to
students a sense of ownership in the classroom. This helps build their confidence
and helps them want to be successful.

2.5 Organizer:
Perhaps the most difficult and important role of the teacher has to play. The
success of many activities depend on good organization and on the students
knowing exactly what they are to do next. Giving instructions is vital in this role
as well as setting up activities. The organizer can also serve as a demonstrator,
this role also allows a teacher to get involved and engaged with learners. The
teacher also serves to open and neatly activities and also give content feedback.

2.6 Surrogate Parent:

Many students suffer from lack of parental contact at home. In fact, there are
students whose parents leave for work before they wake up for school, and who
return from work after they have gone to bed. Parents may be either working
many hours and unable to be with their children or they are absent from their
children’s lives. As a teacher, you may find certain students who lean on you for
support and come to you for advice or to share good news. Positive adult
contact is crucial to raising well-balanced children, and teachers are often given a
chance of being surrogate parents for their students.

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 My Best Assignment (Critical reflection).

3.1 ASSIGNMENT NO:03 (INTERVIEW AND REPORT WRITING).

I have selected Assignment no: 03 as my best one. The assignment was about
interviewing an experienced teacher from my area and writing a report about their
profession and work they do.

This assignment granted me an opportunity to not only develop and ask questions to an
experienced teacher, but it also helped me to shadow myself in at any school, observe
and gain the teaching experience.

People may see teaching as an easy task, but in reality there is a lot of hard work and
dedication that goes into teaching. Teaching is not only about standing in front of the
students in the classroom and tell them what to do, it actually goes beyond that.

Through the interview with Mr. H.S. Nkanyani from Sijabulile Secondary school, I
learned that if I want to become a professional teacher, I should develop the love and
passion for children and the teaching profession. I should treat every child in my school
as my own with respect and I should conduct myself as a professional person in and
outside the school premises.

I observed that discipline is still a major challenge in our schools. Mr. Nkanyani also told
me that learner ill-discipline, lack of interest in education, laziness to study and learner
violence are some of the challenges he faces in almost every day of work. Lack and/or
shortages of teaching and learning material, poor school governance and poor
management of school funds and resources are also part of the challenges that teachers
face in their field of work.

Through my observation, I learned that adherence to learner conduct policies, creativity

in handling learner ill-discipline and application for appropriate policies and guidelines
about learner conduct and misconduct can help to overcome challenges of discipline in
schools. Furthermore, I learned that the used of Empiricism (a method of inquiry in
philosophy) encourages the learners who lack and/or have a shortage of learning
material to acquire knowledge using their traditional senses and the use of African
philosophy(Ubuntu) to accommodate all learners in the classroom irrespective of where
they are coming from.

Lastly, I can suggest that teaching is a profession the requires compassion, patience,
kindness and most of all passion for children and passion for the profession itself.
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 Challenges and Intricacies Encountered as a Student.

4.1 The Greatest difficulty I experienced in all assignment I

was requested to submit.
I personally had a difficulty with the connectivity issues with Myunisa. Sometimes I
would find Myunisa page difficult to access due to signal and maintenance issues. I also
had difficulty in searching for the information that I would use to interact with this
module since it does not have any prescribe book or recommended source of
information.

I noticed that our Teaching Advisors (TAs) took time to give us feedback on our
assignments and, disappointingly some of their feedback was not constructive. Their
feedback did not give us an indication of where we got wrong or where we did right.
Instead for example, on my assignment no: 03 I got a feedback that stated “well written
assignment”, which for me I found it difficult to understand because I did not know
where I did well or where I did not do well.

4.2 An Assignment that I found most difficult to do and reason

why.
Assignment no: 06 (CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION) proved to be the most difficult for
me to do. I am certainly no poet nor a singer and to write a poem or compose a song
was definitely an entirely new experience. I actually did not know where to start with
my poem because, I had no idea what my poem was going to be about and who was it
going to be intended for. I also had difficulty in recording and uploading the poem on
YouTube. I am a quite shy person in nature and to record and upload a poem was a task
I found so uncomfortable to do.

I also felt that we were not given enough time to do assignment as some of us are not
good with poems. We really went through a lot trying to compose a poem and this took
our valuable time of preparing for the next assignment.

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4.3 What I did to overcome the problems I mentioned in 4.2
above.
As reality has proven, for every problem there is a solution. The poem took several
attempts and practices, but through all that effort it still proved to be difficult for me to
do. To overcome this problem, I therefore one day asked my friend Mr. M.M Guambe
who is good with poems to assist me with my assignment. He advised me to write
something that is important to me about school. I took another several attempts writing
through his assistance and I finally got it. He was my mentor and throughout the
assessment.

He also assisted me with recording and uploading my poem on YouTube. During the
recording of my poem, he advised me to be more social rather than being shy. Although
I did my best through the assistance of my friend to compose, record and upload my
poem, my greatest setback was that when I submit my assignment it was already closed
for submission and I felt that all my effort had gone down the drain.

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 SELF – REFLECTION.

5.1 Five academic reasons, explanations and examples that

suggest this online module has empowered me.
This online module has empowered me in the following ways:

 Social interaction:
The online module helped me to establish new relationships and a sense of
connectedness and commitment to other fellow students. Discussion forum and
blog supported my existing friendship and therefore helped me to reduce
anxiety. This online module also allowed me to keep in touch with my fellow
students who assisted me to settle into the university life.
For example, I used the discussion forum to ask any question that I would find
difficult and my fellow group member would swiftly answer it without any
hesitation.

 Student centered approach:

This online module is more on student centered approach and it is therefore
enhancing a sense of empowerment by being flexible, personalized and focused
on students generating knowledge on their own. This flexibility enables students
to study according to their preferred way, in their own time and therefore offers
a sense of ownership and control.
For example, Students are often given a topic to discuss and they will have to
search for information that they will use to discuss the topic without any help or
whatsoever from the Teaching Advisors (TAs).

 Technology integration:
This module focuses on the modern students and their use of technology. As
students become increasingly technologically aware, they use social networking
sites, downloads, iPods, blogs, websites and texts this module therefore
emphasizes the use of technological devises such as laptops, computers, tablets
and mobile phone as part of students’ everyday life/activities to access their
studies and conducting their lives.
For example, every assignment in this module requires a student to submit it
online, no assignment is submitted by either post or mail.

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 Inclusivity:
This module is associated with increased student diversity. The discussion
forums of this module are a wide range of student diversity, they are open to
every student irrespective of their culture, race, gender, ethnic group or
disability. Anyone can access information at any time.
For example, the blogs are the platforms that allow every student to discuss
issues concerning the module without being discriminated against.

 Information communication:
The greatest benefit of this online module is that it offers a range of information
packages including library, information on relevant topics, news updates and
archive information. This accommodates the busy lifestyles of students and can
prevent information overload as students can search for relevant titles and brief
summary.
For example, the Teaching Advisors (TAs) constantly post on the blog to update
students about what is expected of them and how they can go about in
attempting their assignments.

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5.2 Overall impression of the module “Being a Professional
Teacher(BPT1501)”.

My overall impression about this module is that it was quite interesting,

insightful, resourceful and meaningful to me.

During the course of this module I learned many valuable aspects that will
make me a great teacher I can be. These aspects include for instance: the love
for children, respect children and most of all to have passion for the teaching
profession. This module taught me how to be a professional teacher, what
makes a professional teacher and what do I need to be a professional teacher.

Furthermore, I learned the different types of philosophies used in teaching

and learning, how to accommodate learners with diverse learning needs, the
roles of a good teacher and how to integrate technology in the classroom. I
also had fun interacting with my fellow students on the discussion forum and I
found the group discussion to be more useful than I anticipated.

I like to express my sincere gratitude to UNISA for introducing this insightful

module as it equipped me with the necessary knowledge about
professionalism in the classroom. I also like to thank my friend Mr. MM
Guambe for mentoring and inspiring me and to thank my fellow students who
assisted me through discussion forum during the course of this module. Not
forgetting our Teaching Advisors(TAs), I would also like to thank them for their
effort in assisting us with the necessary information needed for our
assignments. Their assistance is highly appreciated.

Lastly, I would like to suggest that the assignment makers should give a
prompt, constructive and positive feedback to every assignment we submit as
some of students rely on the feedback to tackle challenges and to prepare for
the next assignment.

In conclusion, the knowledge that I gained from this module shall remain
embedded in my mind and will come in handy when I become a qualified
teacher one day.

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 DECLARATION.

DECLARATION: I Sabelo P. Mavimbela Student no: 4385 269 6

hereby declare that the piece of work given above is my own
work and that I had also used different resources which I have
listed in my references to complete my work.

DATE: 19 October 2018.

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 REFERENCES.

 Education Law and Professional Ethics; only study guide

for EDA3058/ETC102V: UNISA (page: 105).

 How Can Technology Be Used to Improve the Learner

Experience at Point of Transition? Ruth Lefever and
Becka Currant; University of Bradford: February 2010.

 Mr. MM Guambe: Sited at Thokoza Community

Learning centre (078 516 4116)

 Teacher Certification; Teacher Education: Articles For

Many Role of a Teacher : www.education.gov.za

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