A quest to become a better teacher: A blog challenge PART 1

Another academic year is beginning and this seems as good a time as any to do a bit of self evaluation. Over the course of this and three more posts I will be analyzing who I am as a teacher by looking at who I am as a teacher from four perspectives: my attitude, my skills, my expectations and my feedback. Although I will be looking at myself and giving anecdotes that illustrate what I’ve been doing in the past and how I want my teaching to develop over the next year and in the longer term, I invite you all to use the framework I will present to follow me on my journey and examine how you can develop as a teacher.

 

A starting point

 

What makes me a good teacher?

 

Am I in fact a good teacher?

 

What criteria should I use to assess my successes?

 

A lot of my colleagues believe – and there’s nothing wrong with this – that their success as a teacher is measured by the degree to which the learners are transfixed by their enthusiasm for what they are teaching. Others consider themselves successful if there are clear signs that their students are learning from them, however that may be happening. Some focus on the short-term, citing the fact that learners come to class every day with their work done. Others look to the long-term, focusing on enabling the learners to set out the goals they want them to achieve. Others still look at the bottom line: are their students passing all of their exams?

 

Just writing that last paragraph has started me thinking about how measure success. This might sound like a cop out, but I already see it is hard for me to say that any of those fully fits me and that I see elements of all in what I strive to be as a teacher. My teaching environment requires that I develop in my students an ability to read material effectively, conduct research, synthesize ideas and write papers, among other things. I can’t honestly say that it totally precludes any of the ways of looking at successful teaching mentioned in the previous paragraph. What I need to do, and again I invite you to do the same, is to examine my teaching from the framework of perspectives described by Nellie Jacobs in her book ‘Grading the Teacher.’

 

Let me begin by looking at the attitude of a successful teacher. For each point I will be looking at the key to this concept, thinking about how this relates to me and considering what I need to work on. Remember, there’s no harm in you doing the same!

 

1. A successful teacher loves teaching

 

‘A teacher’s passion for teaching and concern for the students are obvious.’

 

As someone whose context requires teaching through content, on of the biggest challenges for me has been getting excited about subjects which I’m blatantly not interested in on a personal level. Nevertheless, a passion for the job should still shine through in the teacher who loves their work and the content is by no means the be all and end all of what I do in class.

 

I reflect on the notion of dogme ELT a great deal. While I consider some of the things written about it to be ridiculous, pompous and arrogant, especially from its strongest proponents, I’ve noticed a profound change over the past two or three years since I started consciously trying to apply dogmetism to my teaching. Since loosening the reins and entering the classroom with the attitude, ‘let’s see what the kids know about this, what they want to learn about this and what they want to do with that knowledge in terms of English’ I’ve noticed that I’ve been enjoying teaching much more and so have my students.

 

Goal

 

ء         I think I should start getting some more feedback from my students on this issue. Any ideas?

 

2. A successful teacher exhibits goodwill

 

‘The teacher clearly wants the learners to succeed.’

 

Over my many years of teaching I’ve worked with many people. I’m not going to talk about anyone I’m working with right now, as I know some of my colleagues actually read this. Let them rest assured that I’m thinking about people I’ve worked with long ago here. As each term / semester passes, I always get a feel for which teachers students like… and why. I’m not spying or gathering intelligence, I’m merely trying to find out what qualities certain colleagues possess that make them good teachers.

 

One thing that I’ve noticed has remained a constant factor is whether or not a teacher gives the impression that they want to address the needs of their students, both individually and collectively. Think about yourself, or your colleagues if you wish. Do you / they give students the feeling that you’re doing your best for them?

 

Goal(s)

 

ء         Reflect on how I can address collective needs in the classroom.

 

ء         Look for those dogme moments when the lessons become student led and make the most of the opportunities they bring.

 

ء         Consider how to maximize one-to-one tutorials to address individual needs.

 

3. A successful teacher is receptive

 

‘You can’t teach effectively without knowing what the learners are feeling.’

 

Way back in my first year of teaching, Turkey suffered a huge economic crisis which saw the value of the currency halve overnight. Although this brought about economic practices which have to a large extent protected the country from the troubles that many nations have been going through recently, it wasn’t much fun at the time. Many of my students had parents who were self employed or were proprietors of family businesses going back generations. As you might imagine, there was a somber mood in class the day after the crash.  Thinking back on it, this was the trigger for my first foray into off-the-cuff, student led class time. It became instantly obvious that my plan for that day wasn’t going to work and that I needed to take into account what had gone on outside of the classroom.

 

What I’ve tried to illustrate above is that you have to be able to really talk to your students. If students appear inattentive, distracted or unruly, it’s highly unlikely that you are the sole cause of this mood. If the whole class is in a particular mood, it might be appropriate to deal with it there and then. If an individual learner is upset, choose an appropriate juncture to take them aside and talk. The person is more important than the planned lesson.

 

Goal(s)

 

ء         Maintain awareness of what’s going on and don’t push on with my plan regardless.

 

ء         Find channels of communication with students that they feel comfortable with.

 

4. A successful teacher is self-analytical

 

‘A good teacher will constantly analyze their methods, procedures and results.’

 

Something incredible happened to me back in June. One of my students who had recently passed the course that I’d been teaching emailed me. He’d read my blog* and in particular wanted to discuss one of the posts I’d written about our class. He felt comfortable discussing with me what he liked about what I did and – more importantly – things he though I might want to do with students ‘like him.’ More than anything else, he emphasized how much he loved the fact that I was actually thinking about the way I went about conducting classes. I regard this email exchange as one of the pinnacles of my teaching career.

 

I love it when my students do well. Ultimately, this means doing well in exams, but at least that gives me and them something to gauge success by. If they’re not doing well, I investigate the reasons why. Although I can’t give everything that each individual needs, I can gather up common difficulties to address. More importantly, I ask every day if my learners like the way we did a certain activity and whether or not they felt it to be effective. I can’t recommend enough the value of building this kind of analysis into your classes and sharing the decisions with your students.

 

Goal(s)

 

ء         Find ways of involving my students even further in the investigation into how we can do things better.

 

* I tell my students that I blog about my teaching and that they’re welcome to read it.

 

5. A successful teacher motivates with enthusiasm

 

‘You should extend your excitement to your students.’

 

Something strange has started to happen in the last couple of years. My former students come by my office for a chat and stop and ask how I am and generally feel comfortable talking to me. I used to notice that this was happening to certain colleagues and not others and put it down to the degree of ‘separation’ that some feel necessary to do their job: be a mentor, not a friend. However, since adopting a more dogmetic approach to classes, one which requires drawing on the students as sources for the direction the lessons take, I’ve noticed my enthusiasm increase.

 

Viewing lessons as a journey which I take on a level footing with my students has made me all the more enthusiastic, which I feel is rubbing off on the other people in the classroom. Is this why more students come back to share their lives with me after my time as their teacher?

 

Goal

 

ء         Focus more on what the students know about the subject and allow the lessons to evolve from this base with my input. Any advice on how to do this would be appreciated.

 

6. A successful teacher is honest and reliable

 

‘If you say you’re going to do something, do it. If you won’t, or don’t want to, don’t say you will.’

 

One thing that made me really think about my teaching a couple of years ago was a comment from a former student; let’s call him Onur for the sake of this post. Onur told me the one thing that he wished I hadn’t done was promise to email him about something or other and then not follow through. He actually explained that a few other people had said exactly the same thing. I myself had realized that, on occasions, I’d told many students like Onur that I would do something – with the full intention of doing it – and then not do it. I hadn’t realized that this had happened more than once or twice. This was a bit of a wake up call. Thinking back, I’d also sometimes say that I’d come back to a particular issue raised in class in a later lesson and then completely forget that, too. These things are easily done and they have a lasting effect on your relationship with the student(s).

 

Goal

 

ء         Make myself accountable for promises. Get students to remind me of what I’ve said I’d do and make sure I follow up on it.

 

7. A successful teacher is discreet

 

‘Don’t underestimate the importance of trust and the significance of keeping confidences.’

 

Don’t divulge confidential information and or secrets. Ever. I don’t think I have anything to improve in this sense. When I write about my students on this blog I only ever use pseudonyms, even though I’m not sharing anything that would be sensitive. This is the closest I come to sharing info about my students and I take precautions even in this. Be sensible about this.

 

Goal

 

ء         Bear this in mind! Imagine a reversal of roles: how would I wish to be treated?

 

8. A successful teacher has a sense of humor

 

‘Be at ease with your students.’

 

This is where it all really kicks in for me. Understanding the value of humor doesn’t mean trying to crack jokes or acting the fool, rather it means being able to laugh with your students and share stories relating to the subjects you are covering in class.

 

I’ve found that if I can lighten the mood in class, I can really open a student’s receptivity to the more challenging aspects of content based learning and the difficult theories and situations that it throws up.

 

Goal

 

ء         Work on ways to make the burden of difficult content more enjoyable through sharing experiences that the class can relate to. Keep lesson journals in which I reflect on this aspect of my teaching.

 

Closing thoughts

 

I recently heard one of my colleagues say something that will stick with me throughout my teaching career.

 

‘Treat every learner like they are the future leader of the nation.’

 

If you can manage this, I’m sure you will approach the teaching of that individual with the right attitude.

 

I’ll be continuing my investigation into how I can be a better teacher with a close look at skills. If you decide to examine your teaching according to these ideas, let me know how it goes.