Challenges and rewards of teaching a teenager
Teaching is like a mountainous landscape. It’s full of ups and downs, low hills and high peaks. You climb, sometimes fall down, but stand up and go forward again. This way isn’t easy but it is interesting and rewarding.
Is it easy to be a teenager? When I think back to my adolescence, to going through all those changes (in my body, mind, tastes, relationships) I can definitely say that being a teenager isn’t easy. Is it easy to be a teacher for teens then?
I’ve been teaching at the Grammar School which is considered to be the best in our region. The best school, the best students… capable, independent, full of ideas, hard-working, Olympiad winners. But very often my classrooms are filled with students who come from varying backgrounds. They represent different cultures, philosophies, and social classes. They have different levels of subject knowledge; they learn in a variety of ways. This challenge of diversity in a classroom is the most important one every teacher has to address, so that all students can learn successfully. At the same time, a teacher should be in some way a researcher identifying his/her students’ skills and abilities.
My classes can be called “mixed ability” classes with students of different skills and personalities. Some like to speak, others prefer written tasks. They have various learning strategies. For example, I allow my students to choose an exercise to their liking. Thus, while working on a text some students decide to make a plan, some of them prefer asking others questions on the text, others choose to compare some things and facts given in the text, etc. I often ask my students what they want to begin the lesson with (reading? writing? speaking? grammar? etc). Teens especially appreciate when a teacher gives them a right to make a choice.
One more great challenge that I face today as a teacher of teens is connected with the development of their communicative competence. Most of them are dynamic, open to speak and up-to-date but on the other hand there are teens that are less active and shy. In this case a progressive atmosphere in a class can be created with the help of a combination of individual approach and group methods of working (multi-level groups are rather effective).
I think teachers need to adopt a flexible methodology that allows for a variety of learning styles and abilities. The project method teaches my students to value one another as equals, regardless of their abilities and encourages them to be tolerant to each other. It gives every student a feeling of achievement, motivates and challenges them, and develops their communicative skills. I was surprised when troublesome students were deeply involved in making projects and they coped with tasks better than bright ones. My pupils also enjoy role playing and games. Active games and the roles they have at the lessons let them express different feelings: happiness, anger, hatred, or love.
The world of teenagers is full of music, sports, films, computers, subcultures. So, teaching a teenager means being competent in all these things. This is the challenge some teachers have to overcome and take into consideration. Teens like teachers who express ideas similar to theirs. I strongly believe that teachers who deal with teens should develop those techniques that tap into their students’ interests.
A newcomer to the class can also be challenging for a teacher. This is what I experienced this year. A good sense of humour and a warm talk with the girl (who is 16 years old) helped to change her attitude towards me, end misunderstanding and diffuse confrontation.
Teaching is always rewarding. Every single success of pupils whether it is great or small, gives a teacher the feeling of satisfaction and inspires him/her. Good marks, well prepared homework, an interesting essay written by your pupils, winning a contest, flowers or just a bar of chocolate – all these things are rewarding.
But there’s something that’s difficult to describe. Let me try. In my opinion the highest reward is when your students are ready to follow you, do the same work as you do. They fall in love with English. Finally they become teachers of English themselves. Last year one of my students was conducting a lesson. This happens every year on the day when students put themselves in the roles of teachers. Children model the behavior and manners of their parents. This is quite natural. But when I watched my student repeating the words, the intonation, the manners and gestures I usually use at the lesson I was touched deeply. That was really rewarding.
This academic year was completely different. I had to teach at one more school, a comprehensive one. During my first lesson I realized that only two pupils understood me and my English!!! Oh, my God! Nine-graders ought to understand a teacher speaking English. Then I noticed that fewer than a half of them had their text books. Well, I tried to explain to them a new grammar rule but they didn’t have any idea about very simple grammar points! They weren’t used to doing any homework, or concentrating on a task for a long time. I was at a loss. That was challenging. Moreover, one pupil, let call him Sergei, was quite rude with me saying he “was sick and tired of English lessons”. It was clear they were experiencing a sharp adaptation which may be compared with “culture shock”.
Two weeks ago we had our last lesson and this very Sergei said it had been the most productive year of their studying English. Secretly I was proud of myself. Isn’t it the best reward for my effort?!
Challenges or rewards… Which dominates more in teaching a teenager? Most of my friends don’t understand what is good about being a teacher. They think this profession is boring and full of problems. But teaching helps me stay young, be enthusiastic, self-educated, optimistic, hard-working, creative and always active… These are the best rewards teachers deserve.
L.V. Pavlova is the winner of the Teacher’ Contest organized by EF Education, Cambridge University Press and English.