Teacher's Essay Contest
In March–April 2007 Cambridge University Press, EF (Education First),
MELTA (Moscow English Language Teachers’ Association) and newspaper “English”
jointly organized a contest for secondary school teachers which consisted of written and
oral stages. The written task was writing an essay on the following topic:
Consider the following roles which teachers play in different parts of a lesson and
with different aims in mind: teacher as organiser, consultant, instructor, facilitator,
monitor, presenter, controller, assessor, motivator, etc. Give examples of activities in
which you see yourself in some of these roles. Cover as many roles as you can.
We are now publishing the best essays by teachers from secondary
schools.
* * *
In all cultures throughout the world, a teacher is much more than a
simple means of conveying information to the student and clearing up the challenging
details. A good teacher is a mentor, a motivator and a counselor, a spark that ignites
students and makes their hearts warm up to the subject and sometimes to the other aspects
of life as well. A teacher assumes many roles during one lesson. Like a Greek actor, who
changes masks to reenact a play, he or she adapts many strategies to teach the students.
This ability to approach one point from many directions, a versatile mind, is one of the
most important qualities for a teacher.
In all parts of the lessons with any students the teacher has to be a motivator. Strong
motivation is one of the main prerequisites to successful studies. A flaming heart is a
sure weapon against any obstacles blocking a mind. If a student is highly interested in
the subject, he or she will remember more material, give it more thought, and arrive at
interesting, logical conclusions, which will furthermore facilitate the learning process.
To be a motivator, a teacher has to be very interested in his or her subject, and
sympathetic to the feelings of the students. He or she must get a feel of what appeals to
the pupils, and present the lesson in such a way as to show the audience its importance.
When teaching my course, I always assign students their favourite books to read in English
and watch with them excerpts of engaging classical films. In class we role-play essential
real life situations so that the students can see themselves applying their language
skills. We also often hold discussions on topics that seem to be vital for each particular
class. Sometimes it may be computers and technology, if the class is technically oriented.
With other students we may discuss business essentials, or even fantasy heroes –
favourites of teen romantics.
Another important role for a teacher is that of an organiser. A teacher has to manage the
occupation of his or her students during the lesson and sometimes beyond. It is always
crucial to make a good lesson plan that includes all sorts of activities and allows pupils
to switch between a variety of tasks, exercising different language skills and exerting
diverse areas of the brain. Sometimes it is necessary even to allow for a short break with
a fun game or joke. A teacher is always aware of what material it is desirable to cover
within the class period, and has the knowledge of the psychology and physiology of
learning, so he is best suited to distribute the tasks within the lesson. I always compile
a thorough plan of each lesson well ahead of time. At the start of the lesson, I inform
the students of the planned activities, and gently channel their work throughout the class
period to help follow the plan.
During the lesson teachers often assume the role of lecturers and presenters, explaining
new material to the students. From my point of view, it is best to assume a complex
approach to the explanation to provide the audience with facts, their logical connections
and examples. Many students better remember visual, not auditory information, so it may be
a good idea to incorporate visual aids into the presentation. It is good if the visual
aids are bright, interesting, and attract the attention of the audience, but one
shouldn’t lose the teaching point behind the amusing elements. During my lessons I act
as a presenter almost every time we introduce a new topic. I give a short talk, distribute
handouts, show short videos or computer presentations to get the information through to
the students.
In language classes it is important to give students as much speaking practice as
possible. Students are often put in pairs to converse with each other, but it is also very
good to have a class discussion, or for a few students to talk to the teacher. In both of
the latter situations, the teacher acts as a facilitator. He or she listens to the
students and helps them to talk by asking questions and encouraging the most promising
threads of the discussion. It is very important for a teacher to be a good facilitator,
since very few students can freely talk on a new topic without external help. Having
students talk as much as possible under careful guidance is the key to teaching them
speaking skills in a foreign language. In my lessons we often have class discussions of
interesting topics, and I always act to pull out and stimulate controversies, unusual
aspects, popular misconceptions and other essential lines of discourse. At the same time,
I help the conversation to move away from undesirable speculations which are socially
unacceptable or might offend some students (nationality, mental abilities, etc.).
The position of a monitor is a good and indispensable approach to teaching certain parts
of almost any course. In my opinion, a monitor is a person who assesses students’
achievements without assuming the formal position of an examiner. To teach a course
effectively, one must sometimes check the progress of the class. However, if an instructor
directly tests the knowledge of his or her students, in some cases an estrangement
develops between him/her and the class. Pupils don’t feel so comfortable interacting
with an examiner. Sometimes, it may be an unavoidable predicament, but most commonly one
can resort to different means and present oneself as a monitor. One who isn’t in any way
superior to the students, but stands in one line with them, only having more experience in
certain areas and willing to share it. Thus, the teacher can help students prepare for
international or administrative exams, and conduct mock exams. Mock exams reveal the
students’ mistakes, and yet do not give them any negative psychological experience
associated with the specific instructor. When teaching my courses, I often give my pupils
mock exams. While administering such tests, I emphasize my wish to help the students
prepare for difficult exams that await them and that will be given by independent testers.
Thus I put myself in the same basket with my students, showing my sincere interest in
their success – after all, it is my teaching skills that will be tested when my pupils
take international exams. All of us, my students and I are interested in good exam
results. This goal sharing does seem to act as an important unifying stimulus, and yet I
get to monitor my class’s progress. It both checks the students’ achievements and
boosts their motivation.
I strongly encourage my students to take a part of the teaching process in their own hands
– to make a project, prepare a talk, do research in a certain area, or even present some
new material to the class. While doing an extensive study on a topic, students learn a lot
and develop a genuine interest in the subject, seeing its fine remarkable points. When a
pupil conducts such research it is necessary that the teacher act as a consultant. This
advisory role is quite subtle – one mustn’t do the student’s job for him, but
provide him with all the necessary tools. When my pupils prepare projects, I arrange for
regular meetings with them and we discuss their progress. Initially I advise the students
on the types of sources to use (libraries, Internet search engines, etc.) and comment on
the general approach to the subject. If there are problems, we might narrow the focus to
particular books together, but I always urge the pupils to follow their own thoughts
rather than mine, only guiding them back if they stray too much.
One of the most important roles of a teacher, though often forgotten, is the role of a
mentor. When teaching adults it is of less importance, since grown-up students rarely look
up to their instructor. However, when a teacher works with children or teenagers, he or
she can often have a significant influence on them. I see it as an instructor’s
responsibility to do his or her best to affect students in a positive way. It is very
important for a teacher to take into account the psychology of the specific age group he
or she is working with, and develop his or her teaching practices accordingly. I teach
students aged from 4 years old to adults, and always modify my methods to match the
students’ needs. When working with small children, I often introduce characters to help
me teach the lesson – such as plush toys, and emphasize their appropriate behavior and
kindness. Tim, a plush dog, goes to brush his teeth with the students, eats porridge, and
is always very sympathetic, if a student has a problem (generally ranging from a bruised
knee to a broken toy). With older students I employ very different teaching practices, but
always make sure the studied literature is wise and warm-hearted, and find group
activities develop good interpersonal interaction skills, without jealousy or hostility.
All in all, there are many roles a teacher assumes during one lesson, and even more that
he or she tries on over an entire course. They fit particular needs and help to accomplish
specific tasks that are a necessary part of the study process. The motivator role helps to
keep up the students’ interest in the subject, organiser – to work according to a
balanced plan and advance in all aspects of studies, the monitor – to check on the
progress of students in a non-provoking way. However, it is important to remember that a
teacher can be more than just an instructor they can, and often should be, a friend and a
mentor. This responsible attitude is especially important to the educators who work with
children.
Maria Vishnevskaya
* * *
In an activity I like to do with student-teachers, I ask them what
metaphors they can find for a teacher and why (based on “Metaphors” in Five-minute
Activities by Penny Ur and Andrew Wright (Cambridge University Press, 1992). I start the
ball rolling by giving an example: a teacher as a compere of a variety show – he or she
introduces, ends and comments on activities. Once the students have grasped the idea, they
find their own metaphors. This task usually causes a lot of excitement, agitation and even
laughter as teachers end up compared with a book, a car, an artist, a key or a walking
stick. Lighthearted though it may seem, the activity helps to focus the attention of my
audience on the multiple and varied roles a teacher might have to perform in the
classroom. In this essay let me concentrate on the most noteworthy of those roles.
Obviously, the most fundamental of a teacher’s roles is that of imparting knowledge and
putting his students in touch with the vast treasury of information mankind has
accumulated throughout centuries so that they could rightfully take their place in the
chain of generations. In the final count everything you do in the classroom is meant to
contribute to this grand aim the mere awareness of which can keep you going on against any
imaginable odds. Personally, however banal this may sound, I take genuine pleasure in
introducing my students to the varied culture of the English-speaking world. In doing
this, I am not after their learning how many MPs there are in Britain, rather I’d love
them to learn about Molly Malone and King Arthur, I am not aiming at their knowing how
many passengers the “Mayflower” carried across the Atlantic, rather I want the name to
tell a story.
No matter how important it is to broaden the students’ horizons and widen their
knowledge of the world, one must not lose sight of the fact that a well-educated person is
not someone whose memory is bursting with facts and figures, but the one who can make wise
judgments and conclusions, who can analyse and compare, search for information and take
decisions.
Therefore, a teacher’s second most important role is that of a facilitator of a
student’s intellectual development. There are lots of simple things you can do on a
day-to-day basis to stimulate their memory (try dictating the items in a vocabulary quiz
in twos/threes rather then in the “one-pause-next one” mode), attention and
concentration (offer a grid in which any two words of about the same length and containing
a similar set of letters are repeated about 20 times each and ask them to find and count
the hidden focus words in the grid; after that you can be sure they will discover all the
target items in the new text you are teaching in no time!); analytical skills (before
offering a ready-made explanation or a rule ask them for their own ideas of the way in
which these two sentences differ from each other, what those words have in common; invite
them to find the odd-one-out or come up with and account for possible ways of pairing up
the seemingly incompatible items; praise any attempt at independent and creative ways of
looking at things – in how many different ways other than the most conventional ones can
you use a regular newspaper? – and you won’t believe the imagination your students can
display!). These are just a few examples and I can’t, I am afraid, offer step-by-step
guidance on how to turn a dull student into a think-tank, but I do believe the little
things like those mentioned above, if used regularly, do add up to improve your
students’ cognitive skills.
Setting out on a trail to achieve a far away destination, you have to be very well
equipped and prepared and have a clear idea of the route to follow. Similarly, you have to
have a clear and definitive plan in mind when taking up a course or a class. You have to
know exactly where you are going to start and how you are going to lead them to the
desired aim from warm-up to home assignment. This fact surely highlights the importance of
a teacher’s role as an organiser and monitor of numerous activities that take place in
the classroom. No one would probably deny the importance of planning your course. However,
I am aware of there being at least two approaches to lesson planning and preparation. Some
people prefer to play it by ear and, having thought their forthcoming lesson over in the
most general of terms, improvise according to the mood the students are in, the questions
they ask, the mistakes they make, etc. I know quite a few wonderful and very successful
teachers who are exactly like that. I, on the other hand, am a meticulous planner and like
to write detailed notes for every lesson I have to teach. The lower the level of my
students’ language proficiency, the more time I spend on lesson planning and preparation
including the wording of the directions I give in the classroom.
The two fundamental goals of a teacher that I mentioned earlier (broadening students’
minds and developing their mental skills) can never be successfully achieved in an
undisciplined and disorderly environment: hence the teacher’s role as a “policeman”
of sorts. Luckily, I’ve never had to go that far in being faced with major discipline
problems. Teaching mostly seniors I have so far always been able to reason with them and
by doing this overcome the difficulties that arise. Generally, for some time now (will my
views on the subject change in the future?) I have set extremely great store by being
honest and sincere with my students and the mutual trust between us. I am fully aware of
the fact that all of the latter might not work every time, everywhere and for everybody. I
have just been fortunate to deal with reasonably well brought up and intelligent kids. I
like to believe that, by and large, once you win their respect, you stand a good chance of
being able to sort out most of the problems in the classroom.
While acquiring new knowledge and skills, the teacher’s feedback on how the student is
progressing is surely invaluable to the latter. As a controller and an assessor of a
student’s knowledge the teacher will regularly test the students’ achievements,
correct their mistakes, give guidance on how to avoid them in the future. Volumes have
been written on the subject and I am certainly not going to come up with any eye-opening
revelations. But if any of my younger colleagues asked for a piece of advice, I’d just
tell them to be extremely patient, get rid of the perfectionist snobbish attitude to
mistakes their students make and emphasize their progress instead, always remembering that
nobody would even need teachers if people could master a new skill at the snap of their
fingers!
The essential things is to skillfully combine being both objective and reasonably strict,
with being positive and encouraging, using even the smallest discernible step forward made
by an individual student as a foothold for making him want to move on.
No matter whether there is an age difference between the students and the teacher and how
big the difference is, the former tend to look up to the teacher as a consultant and turn
to them for advice and guidance on matters from the choice of career to personal
relationships. Teaching is essentially communication between people – in the school
situation, the teacher and students belong to different generations – with their own
worldviews and sets of values. Personally, I’ve always considered the ensuing exchange
and shaping of each other’s personalities an inalienable part of teaching.
To sum up, the numerous roles mentioned above will be viewed by some as huge
responsibility better avoided. Others (the luckier ones) will jump at the wonderful
possibility to be so many people in one – to smile and frown, guide and correct, teach
others and learn from them, to share and partake. This ideal teacher-figure, equally
skillful at doing the many things expected from him or her, might, to use a hackneyed
cliche, be difficult to live up to on a wet Monday morning. But if their modest efforts
are coupled with endless enthusiasm for the job and sincere affection for the people
temporarily put in their charge, they have a very good chance of making it.
Olga Olkhovaya
Edited by Erin Bouma
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