THE CHANGING ROLE OF TEACHER

In this rapid-changing world, as the skills, knowledge and needs of students change, so does the role of
the teacher. Since students spend most of the time with the teacher, teacher often considered as a
guider, mentor, adviser, role model or friend. Apart from knowledge expert, a teacher must
demonstrate positive ethnics and qualities. These qualities can be reflected in his thought, speech and
behavior and students were expected to learn it. A teacher can also share his personal experiences with
students and give assistance, advice, suggestions when the students are facing personal problems. As
quoted by John Dewey "If we teach today's students as we taught yesterdays, we rob them of
tomorrow", because yesterday’s education is no longer effective for tomorrow's \students. In view of
this, the role of teacher must change in order to adapts to the needs of today’s culture.

In my opinion, teacher should adopt a student-centered approach in the process of teaching. Teacher
provides the materials to students and creates an environment that encourages self-directed learning.
Teacher should become an expert questioner, rather than provider of answers. Students need to be
intellectual literacy and acquired problem-solving skills, instead of solely memorizing and regurgitating
facts. Teacher must engage and direct students to effectively collect, understanding and synthesize
information. Hence, teachers are often known as facilitator, whose facilitating the learning process.
Therefore, teacher must equip himself with different pedagogical approaches and methodology in using
different medium to deliver the subject content effectively. Teachers need to adapt the content to the
learners based on multiple intelligences and using different teaching styles to meet the different needs
of learners. Teaching techniques that can be incorporated into classroom including active learning,
blended learning, problem-based learning, collaborative learning and inquiry guided learning. Therefore,
I need to constantly upgrade myself to be an effective teacher.