Teacher's Essay Contest

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The title of the essay implies that there are many more roles of a teacher at school than common people can imagine. It is impossible to picture an actor without great experience in being or looking different; teachers, the same as actors, have to be different and whole at the same time. Furthermore, teachers may even change from one class to another. Teachers are variables that reflect the whole process of learning.
Learning is a complex process and there are many interacting variables that influence learning. The teacher, who is a variable in the classroom context, is charged with the function of acting as an intermediary between the variables outside the classroom and the students to assist them in their learning. The function of being an intermediary means that the teacher has the role of facilitating student learning, as well as being a part of the school and community. Fulfilling the functions of a teacher means that the teacher is also actively engaged in learning. Learning about themselves, the changes in their field, the expectations of the community and society and, most importantly, learning about their students and ways of enabling their students to grow and develop. The role of the teacher has many facets but that of facilitating student learning is really very important.
The role of the teacher is diverse and has several orientations. One important aspect is that of a facilitator of student learning. The facilitator attempts to provide circumstances that will enable students to engage with the learning opportunities and construct for themselves their understanding and develop their skills. This role will interact with those of teacher as learner, colleague and community partner.
While speaking about the other major roles of teachers, we should not forget that of an evaluator. Providing opportunity for self-discovery stimulates pupils’ activities, and gives them grounds for exploring the world. The method of projects, for instance, allows them to use their own imagination, thus they get used to self-education. In my opinion, acquiring such a habit will help them grow and develop even beyond school. Teachers really should let their pupils share discoveries and ideas that will give the appropriate personal touch to the English language lessons. Do not underestimate the role of performance, very often intonation, pictures, music, or something
of this kind, attracts children’s attention pretty successfully.
As a motivator, a teacher introduces the subject and provides the Big Picture for it, and enlarges pupils’ ideas on the topic discussed. From my personal experience I really see that generating enthusiasm is an indispensable aspect of teaching. Children are very grateful when they see your respect and interest in their opinion. It gives them a chance to show their worth. You will be surprised how much they can do in response.
One of the approaches to teaching and learning is to see the teacher as a co-learner where the activities are negotiated with the students and the community in general. Thus, children will trust you, and, as we all know, creating the atmosphere of trust and confidence contributes to the progress your students or pupils make. However, do not overdo it. Show them you are an expert by providing information to your pupils, and organizing and integrating new material.
So, we can clearly see that a teacher has a lot of roles to play. Moreover, to be good at playing them, a true teacher should also possess certain pedagogical skills. In other words, a teacher should possess such features of their character that show their gift for working with children. And not only that, a teacher should be a good organizer and control and do the planning of the process of learning. A teacher should also possess some qualities of a psychologist to feel, know and understand children’s unique world. Suggestibility is another important point for a teacher, so that a teacher should be able to exert a positive influence on children. Finally, no doubt a teacher should be a qualitative communicator to establish connections not only with children, but with their parents and other teaching staff.
So, what is a teacher? What does he or she do?
Teachers encourage clear, on-going communication between all participants. They offer a mentor’s expertise in adolescent development and in planning a quality learning experience. In addition, a teacher works closely with students encouraging them to develop as responsible individuals.

By Ekaterina Torina

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If we try to find a teacher of English who is not dependent on Shakespeare’s works, we’ll fail, I believe. I am not an exception here – so, let me start this essay with a famous quote. I mean this one:
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts…”
The classroom where I work is a big part of my world, and it is absolutely true that I am a player there along with my students. And, naturally, we play many parts. But today I’m going to focus only on those which belong to me. They are usually quite varied – I can be an organizer, a consultant, an instructor, a facilitator, a monitor – what not. Of course, I have some favourites, and this is the thing I’ll say a couple of words about.
Quite often – if not always – everything depends on the class which is sitting in front of me. They can be very young and scared, they can be teenagers with no authorities to have, sometimes they are very advanced and interested in my subject, and quite frequently very lazy and unwilling to be involved in any activities I am going to offer. And the success of my first meeting with them is the pledge of either our further successful cooperation, or our common failure. And this very first moment is the time when I have to choose my – and their – future roles. The best role for this first meeting is the one of a motivator, I think. They may see no sense in my subject – or even feel hostile to it. In this case I strongly believe there is great use in a good warming-up activity. If it goes successfully, I can guarantee that the relationship with this group will be no problem in the future. It is a situation when I like many newcomers in the group. For this case I have a “Melting Pot activity” in store. It is a very easy thing to organize, and a great fun, too. The teacher has only to present it and to monitor how it goes after it has started. But then there is no more tension in class and the class motivation obviously rises.
But my best loved role is the one of a facilitator. It seems to me that the very essence of our subject is in it. For, if the language is not for facilitating communication, then what is it for? But it is more than that. One of my most frequent activities in the class is to settle conflicts which inevitably arise when communication is the thing in question. But I see my aim not just in settling the conflicts. My main goal is to teach my students how to settle these conflicts themselves and to do it using the language skills they have obtained at our lessons.
One of the most frequent and convenient ways to do this is to use some educational technologies. The one I have really been delighted with lately is the technique of Lincoln-Douglas debates. Let me tell you more about teacher’s roles in this process as I have dedicated a lot of my and my students’ time to this exciting and useful activity. I do think that it belongs to the future, as at the moment I know no better way of developing tolerance and mutual understanding by means of a foreign language.
First of all, you should be a very good organizer if you want to go into it as the process itself is a very time-consuming one. It is essential that students should understand quite clearly what they are supposed to do and how their speeches – or “cases’, in debate terminology – are to be written. I have needed to plan my lessons very carefully in order to provide every student with all the preparation stages for the event.
Secondly, it is important to focus on the contents of the subject debated. These types of debates is known as value debates, and it gave me a lot of opportunities to discuss most vital matters together with my students. I quite often had to act as a consultant while children were discussing burning questions connected with their life values, as well as to maintain their active part and to key in not only on the ideas themselves but also on developing speaking skills which were necessary for the discussion.
Then, there is one more advantage of this technique. Actually, it’s one of the main reasons why I liked it so much. Any teacher who undertakes it is bound to become an instructor concerning an absolutely new method of work which is unknown to students. And, if usually students consider an instructor as an unapproachable and distant person, this situation is completely different. The instructor and the student are members of one team, and they are colleagues, not enemies.
Naturally, there are no methods which are just flower baskets, and nothing else. I have come across an unpleasant side of this one, too. It’s assessment, as it is easy to guess. Being an assessor is the hardest thing for me in general. The only thing which helped me in it was the fact that all the students who were participating in the activity knew all the criteria of evaluation beforehand, and all of these criteria were very transparent and clear.
And, in my opinion, it’s a common principle. When I start grading, the first thing I start with is working out the grading criteria together with all the students, on the one hand, and plunging the children into the river of self-assessment, on the other hand.
So, these are the main teacher’s roles I can imagine. But, to my mind, there is one more role which hasn’t been mentioned yet. It’s listener. This one is crucial for many aims, but the main thing is that there is no real collaboration without it. Let’s take a lesson as it is – I’ve noticed many times that any routine work can be elaborated with my genuine attention to the students’ words. And, remembering that a teacher is to be a student’s model – there is no other way to raise a good listener than to be one.
Our modern life is changing very fast, in all respects. And I am glad that I live and work today when a teacher is not only someone who dispenses knowledge, but someone who is searching for new ways of development both for students and for himself. For a person whose aim is professional development and growth can take any role – but no matter what it will be, the one he has already achieved is as a winner. He is a winner, as well as his students and colleagues are.

By Irina Vaiserberg