DO LECTURERS NEED PREPARATION?

Teaching or lecturing well is not possible without adequate preparation. Indeed, there are several teachers or lecturers, who are able to wake up, to wash my face, and instantly to be able to teach it well. However, it seems not much teachers or lecturers look like it. There are some lecturers who come to the class without any preparations. Yes, they know the materials that they teach. For some lecturers, the materials will always be the same from time to time, on the other hand other are motivated to dig out new teaching materials and methods. Preparation well before teaching is a form of a lecturer to respect himself and his students. Although teaching for only 100 minutes in a class, it is possible for some lecturers to prepare themselves for more than two hours, or even two days.

Why does a lecturer need more than two hour preparation? Although one of the tasks of teaching faculty, it does not mean that a lecturer knows all that will be lectured or taught for a long time. Science continues to evolve. Some even develops very fast. To participate in this development, and provide relevant for students, the lecturer must always learn. In wikipedia, human learning may occur as part of education, personal development, schooling, or training. It may be goal-oriented and may be aided by motivation. The study of how learning occurs is part of educational psychology, neuropsychology, learning theory, and pedagogy. Learning may occur as a result of habituation or classical conditioning, seen in many animal species, or as a result of more complex activities such as play, seen only in relatively intelligent animals. Therefore, it could be stated that learning needs motivation so that it can be a habit for the learner. A lecturer, it goes without saying, has to learn and provide himself with his teaching materials before he stands in front of his class. In fact, without having and mastering teaching materials properly, the quality of learning in the classroom does not seem to be the maximum.

It is strange if there is a lecturer teaching a course not relating his materials with the nowadays condition. The transparency of the material in class becomes more with the ideas of information technology development. Lecturers can be stated failed and old-fashioned if he does not use the nowadays materials. Preparation of a lecturer in teaching can be done in many ways. First, most of lecturers usually read textbooks that record the development of the latest science to be taught. Books are often not sufficiently advanced, sometimes a lecturer needs to be equipped with a scientific journal. A lecturer should prepare teaching materials that can be absorbed by the student. This material may include textbooks, hands-out, slide presentations, or journal / parts books / magazines scientific / other relevant materials. This material will greatly assist students in understanding the course content.

Moreover, a lecturer should prepare scenarios in the classroom. This scenario is not to be written, but how time is used in the classroom, how students are involved in the process, and how the teaching materials supplied, must have been unthinkable. But if a lecturer wants to write, it will be very good and help to transfer knowledge to his students. This becomes very important, if a lecturer says that he applies a student-centered learning.

The use of easily understood language also needs to be considered. A lecturer should remember that not all students come to the class with the same maturity level. There are lots of examples about leveling in education, they are level of knowledge, level of abilities, etc. In Perbanas Institute situation, for instance, an English lecturer usually teaches in a class that consists of 40 students. They have different levels of English ability. Perbanas Institute, likes other levels of education in Indonesia, does not want to put its students according to the students English language abilities. Therefore, an English language lecturer must work harder, for example, he must be able to deliver the materials by using simple language, even some other lecturers use Indonesian language in order to make the students understand the materials taught. Here, it can be stated that a class is unique and the teaching methods used cannot be the same from one class to another class. The materials can be the same but the way how a lecturer to deliver the materials in a class is an art. That’s why some says teaching is an art.