Subject Knowledge and Effective Teaching

Knowing the subject matter does not guarantee that you can teach it well. The fact that a teacher is an expert in the subject content tne does not mean that he/she is eble to assist students in learning that same subject. Experience has clearly shown me instances where students teachers who just completed college ar unable to execute what they have learnt in a meaningful way for students to understand. I have been through a similar experience when commencing teaching. I used my old notes from school to teach and realised that some students were just not attaining anything. Evetually, I changed my approach and simplified what I had learnt to aid in better undeerstanding by students. It was not an easy transition, but a necessary one. Capel, Leask and Turner ( 2005) suggested the need for student teacher to widen their knowledge base so that they have an in-depth understanding of the content far beyond what the subject requires. Capel et al continued that a wider knowledge encourages the development of activities with differentiated task, to cater for students diverisities and build confidence and competence in teachers. Thus it is crucial for effective learning.

What are your views on subject knowledge and effective learning?Do you think that teachers in-depth content knowledge automatically means that they are effective? See the following for scholarly articles on effective learning and the subject matter.
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=subject+knowledge+and+effective+teaching&hl+n&um+1&ie+utf-8&oi=scholart

I look forward to your comments


Capel, S., Leask, M. & Turner, T. (Eds.) (2005). Learning to teach in the secondary schools: A companion to school experience. New York: Routledge.

Michelle Peters
October, 2009