I spent a few contemplative hours this morning going through some of my dozens of notebooks of poetry and philosophy/aphorisms, written over the last 30+ years.
As I was reading one, I came across this list of points on “How To Learn English”. I remember writing this before my first ever conference presentation, my second year of teaching. If memory serves me well, it was in Ostrov Nad Labem, Czech Rep. 1992. Looking at it now, still rings mostly true.
** Not your ordinary, endless list – just what’s number 1.
There is one thing I always wish for the teachers I’ve trained and taught and shown the door into the big wide world of teaching – the freedom to not follow a script, to not teach to something but for something, the room to explore, to take the road less traveled. I know that I benefited from this kind of environment in my early years, in the newly minted uncommunist Czech Republic, I know it will work for all teachers, for all students at any place and time. Too often though, more often the case, teachers are shackled by textbooks, programs, tests, standard curriculum and set agendas/schedules. Why can’t we have a field instead of a factory?
If I wish for anything this Teacher Appreciation week – it is for us to trust teachers and give them the freedom to teach.
You see, teaching is an art and it depends upon the freedom granted a teacher. If there is no freedom on the part of a teacher, there is no trust in the teacher. And without trust, the social contract is nil – there is no investment by any part other than to pass/fail. Learning is left in the ditch, real inquiry is but a distraction. Without trust in a teacher, we suck the life out of teaching.
A lot has been written recently about Finland and why they have such success in education. It isn’t rocket science though. It isn’t a matter of masters degrees or small class sizes. It is all about freedom, the freedom to teach that Finnish teachers have. The trust their society gives them and has in them.
I came across this quote from a blog recently, it asks the right questions we should be asking ourselves about teaching;
How many teachers have the legal and moral authority to determine the materials their students read, watch, listen to or produce? How many take the initiative to design “curricula” based on broad but common goals? How many see change as the only constant and take calculated risks for the benefit of their charges? – Another dot in the blogsphere
She was writing about Finland and how teachers there are asked to be creative, to teach from their heart not just their head. The most achievement in the least number of hours. They are edupreneurs with the freedom to teach, with the freedom to fail. It’s that failing that counts. Here’s an nice video overview.
This freedom is the number one thing we can grant teachers, if we care about our children’s education. Our trust will pay off. Alas, especially in TESOL, there is so little of this. Seems the higher up the food chain a teacher marches, the less freedom a teacher has. Isn’t that strange? But thank god for those younger teachers given freedom, a classroom, a closed door and all that potential and possibility! Ah, I wish I could have that again ….. maybe that’s why I love doing things online, this sense of freedom and potential – things in my own hands, the teachers own hands.
Let’s hope we as a society have the guts to give teachers the space and time to be. To be edupreneurs and to speak from their hearts that beat the same sound, the same rhythm of what the future ought to be.
To end – a fav song – It’s A Matter Of Trust, Billy Joel. This goes out to all the teachers out there, struggling towards freedom on Teacher Appreciation week.
I’ve been an athlete most of my life. Also a coach and one who’s thought a lot about how to “develop” one’s talent as an athlete.
This has served me well as a language teacher. Becoming proficient or even excelling at a sport bears most of the same developmental patterns that one should step through to become proficient in a language. There are no short cuts!
Furthermore, we teachers should note that we don’t really “teach” a language – rather we provide the conditions through which a learner might practice the skill that is “speaking a language”. We should focus on performance not product (knowledge of the language itself). In essence, a teacher is a coach, a coach that guides their protege through the various stages of learning a language.
A number of years ago (during my own first TEFL certificate), I read a very powerful essay comparing learning to play football to learning a language, “The 5 Step Performance Based Model of Oral Proficiency” by Rebecca Valet. I recently pulled it out of a box and dusted it off. Even more relevant today, as I see so much of the “teaching English” realm being ruled by schools and businesses that espouse study methods and approaches that take short cuts and rule by teacher fiat not student proficiency and practice.
Let’s use the metaphor of football and look more closely to see what it says to us about teaching and learning a language. I’ll use some examples using EnglishCentral, the video based site I’m presently helping to build.
How to Become a Great Football Player (or language learner)
Stage 1: Watching
In this stage, there is the dream of fluency. The player watches others and sorts out things in their head. They become motivated and try to figure out the language for themselves. They learn very basic terminology through observation and self study (like a learner would the necessary vocabulary and grammatical structures to start off). Touchdown, kick off, tackle etc… These and the more tacit features of playing the game are learned through the silent period of intake and simply watching. Key, key, key here is that the student is motivated to spend the time and mental effort to make progress. Without the motivation – the dream and end of success in mind – this stage will show little progress and instead a false sense of progress might develop based on false measures. A second key is comprehensible input. The student should just watch the real game – not play tapes with confusing explanations, not highlight reels with actions out of context. Keep it authentic and simple.
{Students watch videos on EnglishCentral}
Stage 2: Learn The Rules
Without knowing the rules, the football player has no bases or convention to organize observation. In this stage, the player begins playing but in broken practice. The coach explains the rules and corrects players that make errors, as they happen. Rules are explained and corrective feedback is given students on the spot. The game is learned “in situ” – while happening.
{Students begin recording and imitating native speaker speech. Students click on each word and learn definitions. Students use videoclip lists to see how the same words are used differently by speakers}
Stage 3: Skill Practice
Football players will never develop properly if they only practice the game with interruption. (stage 2). They need to focus on many of the skills and master them. These skills will enable them to be complete players. Practice focuses on key skills and the coach gets students to practice them over and over, ad nauseum. This prepares the students for game performance and also ingrains and habituates the skills. They become unconscious so come play day, they are automatic and instant.
{Students on EnglishCentral learn at the correct level. Vocabulary is studied in context and developed as speech is recorded. Corrective feedback of speech is given}
Stage 4: Simulated Performance
Here we have practice games, uninterrupted scrimmages. Students test themselves against friends and peers (so it is controlled in some sense). But there is a focus on getting ready for game day, the real test, so practice is without a lot of support or direct coaching. Everything is “live” and done as a whole. Only afterwards, does the coaching staff debrief the players and offer correction and advice for improvement.
{Students record whole videos in real time and practice, trying to “be” that speaker}
Stage 5: Game Day
The players are all ready. They take to the field and perform. They learn on their own accord, what they need to work on, what they can do well. They do well or they fail. They are in the “real” world and either succeed or fail. In all cases, they return to work on skills, to scrimmage, to practice. There is no perfection for the athlete, just a constant battle to keep up. During the season of many games, there is less practice and focus on skills needed – reality suffices. But once not in the regular season, it is back to the basics again.
{Students stop learning on EnglishCentral and get out there in the real world, speaking English with real people through skype or on the street, by email}
Remember – in football or language, it’s a game of inches. So says Al Pacino in his classic speech!
Today, went out for a nice bike ride with “my old man”. He’s almost 70 and he kicked my butt! Truly. I’ll admit I’m not in great shape anymore but watching my dad, “power in” the last 20 k of our ride, me lagging behind – gave me pause. The guy just doesn’t age and “keeps going”. I hope I’ll be so lucky. But as a metaphor, it got me thinking about what it takes to stay teaching, as I huffed and puffed along (and to be honest, he had a nice $1,000+ racing bike, I had a few hundred dollar mountain bike – but still).
A while back, I wrote about “teaching endurance”, reflecting on the commitment it takes as a teacher to “keep going” and stay in the game. Today, I am due for some more directed reflection and maybe it’ll help some teachers.
Teaching isn’t easy. Here in Canada between 35 to 45% of new teachers leave the profession permanently by their fifth year. It is higher in the States. I think IMMENSELY higher in EFL, given the very transient teacher and “tourist” teacher body that fills our ranks.
There are many outside factors that lead to teachers “giving up” despite liking the job (and I’ll admit, some give up after discovering they aren’t cut out for the job which probably is good, all things considered). Outside factors include; poor salaries, poor benefits, poor schools and quality of schools, low professional status, little professional development or teacher training / support, government policies and supply and demand side factors. These factors, the teachers themselves have little control over. Think of them as the “fixed costs” of teaching. But what about those things a teacher can control? What can they do to better their chances of not being a teacher turnover statistic?
Here are a few of my suggestions based on my own years teaching and I like to think, “longevity” and passion.
1. Find the school that suits you.
Yes, money counts but it isn’t everything. When looking for a job, find a school that supports “how” you teach, your own teaching style. Most teachers are unhappy because they end up teaching in a way that doesn’t suit their beliefs about teaching or learning. Go for the money at your own peril!
2. Switch it up, now and then.
Might be contradictory but every few years, a teacher needs a change. Throw yourself into a new teaching environment, change it up. It takes courage but if you want to stay in the game, you almost have to. Teaching kindie? Why not take a few years teaching adults and regain that old energy?
3. Make friends on staff.
This is crucial. If you don’t like the people you spend hours upon hours around, you won’t survive. You’ll burn out quicker than a faulty lightbulb. You need people on staff that you gel with, that you respect and return the respect. Do you have that?
4. Set Goals.
I’m avoiding the cliched, “professional development” because that is a real broad term. If you set goals for your own teacher development, you’ll benefit and it might include traditional forms of PD like conferences, online PLNs (personal learning networks), peer workshops, courses etc… However, the goals might just be something personal like, “using more games in class” or “relating to students on a more personal level”. Each year, I set a new goal for myself. This year, my goal is to “walk the talk”, meaning actually teach students online. I’d always been telling teachers about this but now I want to do it, experience it and test those waters. And it is working out. Not easy but it keeps me invigorated.
5. Use your downtime well.
You have to “have a life” as we say in the staffroom. And I don’t mean just your family/kids. I mean, a teacher to survive needs a place for themselves, for their own “recharging”. Teaching is very, very, very people intensive. It is heavy on one’s psyche. So teachers need to find their own outlet, for their own sake. It will keep all things running smoothly. For me, it is my bike these days.
There you go – a few remarks about things that might help you, the teacher, stay in the game and survive. What can you add?
Interested in what other teachers say? This Education Week article has some great comments!
It’s that time of year – graduation! Full of commencement addresses and speeches. I’ve got to give my share and I’m always reminded of this time of year by the traffic level hitting this one post; Graduation Speech.
For those who haven’t seen it, I’d like to share one of the finest (and funniest) graduation speeches – Bill Cosby speaking to new Carnegie Mellon graduates. He tells a special story in the unique way that only he can. It means a lot, what it says – so I won’t ruin it for you with my own pauper’s words and pretense. Watch, enjoy and celebrate. Really and truly we each graduate, each and every day that we “learn”. Your students can practice this speech on EnglishCentral too!
It’s Sunday a day of repose. Re – Pose. Re Position.
If there is one thing in my life I’ve done well – it is to “dance to the beat of my own drummer” a la Thoreau or that other great quote of Blake’s, “No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings”.
It’s something I’ve insisted upon as a teacher and more so as a teacher trainer. We are all to create our own methodology and best practices. Not that we ignore the advice of others but that we use it and smudge it to form our own teaching collage.
English language teaching and too our commercial driven lives, is full of “the new, best thing”. Do not be entranced by snake oil salesman. Do not offer blind allegiance to anyone. Be they a Nunan (tasks), Krashen (input), Thornbury/Meddings (Dogme) or a whole flock of others. These are only “ideas” and we know so little about second language acquisition that we’d be so wrong to bet “All In !”. I say that with the most respect to those offering up new approaches and methods. Same goes for a textbook or a technological approach. They aren’t to be blindly implemented – rather, follow your nose.
Same with the flip side of the coin, learning a language. Some will benefit from intensive memorization of vocabulary, some will need a lot of extensive listening. Others benefit from reading. Find what works for you and stick with it – until it is time to “reposition”.
Beware of systems. Ideologically or as part of your teaching beliefs. Questions, criticize and adapt to your own teaching style and classroom/school environment. Same goes for teaching certification and training. A CELTA is one way of teaching English. So too your own trainer’s approach and instruction. Even the hallowed “CLT” or communicative approach is just that – a suggestion. There is nothing proven in terms of efficacy. We are human and that’s the rub and difficulty. There is nothing foreign to us – in terms of learning.
The best teachers weave and dance to their own music. They make magic happen, learning happen, precisely because they are not “tunnel visioned” but adapting and testing, trying and changing. No guru, no method, no teacher – like Van the Man said.
Just like spring, always be ready to begin anew. But stronger, given the knowledge and experience gleaned from one more winter…..
I get asked a lot, “how do you do so much?” or am labeled, “the hardest working ELT teacher”. I’m always somewhat lost as to how to respond. Baffled really. I guess I’m a fish that knows nothing about the water I swim in!
You see, I just do. I don’t think much but rather when an idea comes, I jump in and get it done. For example, see this great music video below. I was sent it and immediately saw its potential as content for language learning. So I got busy and “just did it”, subtitled it. I didn’t think how nice it would be to have it subtitled. And in a nutshell, that’s how I get things done – and it all is a question of endurance.
The photo is with 
one of my heroes, Ed Whitlock. Ed spends his latter years, every day, running for 3 hours around his local cemetery. Same pace, same direction, every day. He’s “being there”. That’s how he’s set amazing world records (the oldest man to run a sub. 3 hour marathon. 2:54 min. at the age of 74 – I cheered him the whole way!). That’s how he gets things done.
And now to my point, the point of this personal post.
It is all about being constant, enduring. Great teachers endure. They do the same things over and over again. They learn to do them well. Yes, we hear a lot about innovation, creativity etc…. but this should be on top of the base – that everyday, grunting and getting the work done – “bringing home the bacon that is learning”. And so too with language learning and our students – it is all about “endurance”.
It isn’t easy to “endure” but it is easier if you can find a way to “just do it”. Flow and “be there”. Not anywhere else. Keep doing, day in and day out and you’ll soon have accomplished so much. If as Nietzsche said, “genius is a question of endurance”, so to is teaching. You were born to be a star, an enduring superstar.
With the events in Egypt unrolling these past days, my mind has been on them and also on the wider question, what makes a “liveable” country?
I took down from my bookshelf, a treasured book, Notes from the Rainforest, by Gyorgy Faludy. Gyorgy is/was a mind like no other. He had traveled and lived all over the world and on one small page, he listed his 10 requirements for a country. If it didn’t have at least 5 of them, he recommended running for the nearest border.
I’ve been honored to visit a lot of classrooms. And I think, the same question is valid for a classroom, as for a country. So I thought it would be interesting to list Gyorgy’s points and then write up a similar dictum for that of a classroom. Be prepared – some of my own statements are meant to challenge and be extreme. Here we go…. What others could you add?
1. Freedom to leave without an exit visa or baggage search is assumed.
1a. Classrooms have children there that want to be there. If they don’t, they are free to leave and do something else. What a child didn’t achieve in one class IS NOT counted against them in the next.
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2. Faces of the population are generally cheerful.
2a. Students are relaxed and smile a lot. They are free to laugh and show their emotions.
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3. Public rudeness is rare.
3a. Students respect their classmates and address them in a polite fashion.
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4. Fairly elaborate manners are expected of everyone after the age of seven.
4a. Students have been taught how to behave in the classroom. There are routines and expectations.
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5. Public libraries are uncensored, well-stocked, and much-used.
5a. The class has lots of books (a mini library), materials, decoration – all accessible for student learning and borrowing.
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6. Little or no hunger or squalor is evident and the accumulation of wealth is not generally thought of as the Meaning of Life.
6a. All students have access to nutritious food. Poverty is not a barrier to learning at school. The classroom has no obvious social pecking order.
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7. Violence is rare and , among the police, severely forbidden.
7a. Students are not punished corporally nor with emotion. All forms of violence are not tolerated (by students or teachers) and disqualify a person from the class. Violence by teachers, strictly forbidden.
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8. A general attitude of “live and let live” is seen.
8a. The classroom is not driven by “results”. It does what it can one day and that is enough. There is no “guilt” of not keeping up.
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9. No political prisoners are taken.
9a. The classroom is void of religious, political and social indoctrination. It is a place of tolerance of ideas and where ideas are thought about and challenged, not gulped down.
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10. Few are destitute and those are charitably treated.
10a. The disabled (learning / mental / physical) are a part of the classroom (for part of the day) and are seen as equals in all ways.
Faludy, Gyorgy., Notes from the rainforest. 1988, Hounslow Press, Willowdale, Canada.
I had a number of wonderful emails about my blog post – TEFL “non stick” teaching. So I decided to make the blog post into a presentation. (download here – with music – Being a good teacher) Also see my almost iconic presentation, Effective EFL Teacher for something similar but not so general.
This call in radio show on the topic – raises a lot of issues. Very insightful. What makes a great teacher
See all my teacher training presentations (or most) on my Teacher Training channel. Download them all for your use and remix on EFL Classroom 2.0
I stumbled upon Alex Case’s old blog post, “25 ways to get away with being a crap English teacher”. Insightful list that I could add to. However, I’d rather focus on the positive so I thought I’d address the question posed in one of the comments;
How about a list of ’25 ways of being a good teacher’?
IMHO, teaching is a great art with many pretenders and charlatans. There are many who teach but few who really accomplish “learning”. Learning here defined as not just “knowing” but also “questioning” and coming to new realizations. Praxis. Teachers promoting the act of thinking and communicating, not just the banking of ideas. Here, I also tell a lot of what “teaching is…”
So how to be a “non-stick” teacher? A teacher that cooks up a storm but leaves no mess? Here, is my list.
1. Get to know your students! Make it personal, connect the curriculum to their lives.
2. Engage the “ego”. Promote pride. Give ALL students success. Meaning….
3. Keep it simple! It’s about what they do afterwards, not in the classroom moment, that is important.
4. Practice don’t preach. Show and model. You, reading a book during break teaches “reading” more than any lesson. Meaning….
5. Share yourself. Teaching is personal. If you don’t share some of your life, they won’t. CARE and show you care.
6. Make students think! It doesn’t have to be Jeopardy but get them learning other things besides language.
7. Give students responsibility. Good teachers have students doing most of the prep and work.
8. Go slow. “Slow teaching” will be the new “in” thing in the future, believe it or not! Why? It works! Education is no longer about content but about digestion….
9. Provide structure. Students need to know what you will do during each part of the lesson. Systems are good!
10. Use hooks! Engage students at the beginning of lessons. Great teachers teach inductively. Whole to the parts.
11. Have an open door policy. Teach openly and share openly with colleagues. We are all learning and developing.
12. Use the whole classroom. It is your home, use all parts. Get students out of their seats using the space, the board …
13. Pow wow. Make it a point to have a conference with a student. They need that one on one.
14. Color things up. Use pictures/photos! Use real props. Context is everything and video/photos provide it in spades.
15. Promote community. You are a family and support each other. Nurture that with a name, an identity. Meaning…
16. Use student names as much as possible when talking to them. Names light up the brain and foster learning. It’s true!
17. Teaching is acting. Don’t be yourself but be whoever it takes to get students motivated and learning….
18. Give students control. Let them be the teacher! For example, why shouldn’t students lead the class in TPR exercises? Why not make your classroom more like a sandbox than an assembly line?
19. Don’t be afraid to “talk teaching” in the staff room. Share what you are doing with other teachers. This will transfer into the classroom.
20. Record student achievement/work. Make portfolios, keep records and examples, display their work. You have to know A to get to Z.
21. Get “off the beaten path”. Take detours. Look for teachable moments. Connect the content to reality at every opportunity.
22. Teach students, not the subject! Learn more about differentiation and treat each student as “special”. Study up on how special educators approach learning.
23. Be holistic. Teach language – don’t teach “writing” or “reading” etc… The whole English language is the true curriculum.
24. Have style. Each teacher must find their own “way” and “manner”. It takes time but discover and nurture this and make it your core.
25. Have a philosophy. You need a “why” to bear the inevitable almost any “how” of a classroom. Read books, talk to others, write out a journal. Great teachers are reflective about their job.
Now I know that this might seem a tall order. We can’t do all these things. However we can try. It is this trying that makes all of this possible.
If you liked this post – you might enjoy “Teaching – it’s the small things that count” OR the presentation – Effective EFL Teacher
Have you ever had a “teachable moment”? Do you think we can actually make them happen or are they totally arbitrary, unpredictable by nature?
First, let me explain by way of a story, what a teachable moment is.
When I was first teaching, I taught LINC, language instruction for newcomers to Canada. Basically, adult ESL for new immigrants. My classroom was on the 5th floor of a downtown skyscraper, all glass windows on the side opposite the board.
I was preceding with my regular lesson on “How to withdraw money at a Canadian bank”. As I was writing on the board, suddenly there was a series of loud “ooohs”, “ahhhs” and shrieks behind me. I turned around and wondered what the heck was happening. I saw 2 middle aged women jumping up and down, up and down like small kids. Their faces were glued to the glass and they began exclaiming, “Snow! Snow!” They were from Brazil and this was the first time they’d ever seen snow. It was just a few small flakes but they were overcome.
As the teacher, I really didn’t have much choice but to start teaching about snow and use the opportunity of “reality knocking” to teach about the weather and anything snow related. The whole class just went that way and started asking questions to the women, “There is no snow in Brazil?” , “Is it what you expected?” “Have you seen snow on TV?” etc….
This was a teachable moment and we began talking all about snow, brainstorming snow related vocabulary etc…… It was a unique opportunity to harness student motivation and to connect the classroom with the real world. A real teachable moment.
A few other teachable moments I remember in my teaching career were:
1. A butterfly entering the classroom – which led to a lesson in science and entomology.
2. A mother coming into the class to ask a question – which led to us interviewing her about her new business.
3. A student’s broken arm – which led to a lesson on our own prior accidents and ways to prevent them.
Can you create teachable moments or must they arise purely “by chance?”
Teachable moments are powerful “learning” moments (for teaching is learning). In many cases, unforgettable. A kind of student driven “Eureka”. An epiphany where you connect with the subject in ways that aren’t possible in the traditionally delivered, head on, step 1,2,3 lesson plan. But can we try to make them happen? I believe we can and should as teachers.
I think there is a “Teachable Moment Spectrum” ranging from strict control and following of the lesson plan to a very liberal approach that seeks student “reality” as the generator of teachable moments. We don’t have to rely on chance!
In our teaching, we can use the reality that affects our students as a powerful source of both content and “teachability”. This to me is a manufactured or synthetic teachable moment – but powerful just the same! Looking at the above examples – The butterfly entering the room would be a natural teaching moment, an unmanufactured one. However, 2 and 3 are purely teacher created but teachable moments just the same.
As teachers, let’s not just rely on chance. We should actively try to create teachable moments all the time – connecting student reality to learning. In the language curriculum, the possibilities are endless, unlike the case of more “set” curriculum like science and history. Language oozes into everything and so we should let reality set the course and not the lesson plan.
Let’s take the untrodden paths more often and bring teachable moments into our everyday teaching…. you can, I assure you!
Here is a quick update to a post I really think valuable to teachers – Teaching as Chopping Wood. The update is me chopping wood and really just to get others to read a blog post I am proud of and which I think has some valuable though general advice…….. But teaching is like chopping wood! Here I am new in Canada, reacquainting myself with the old chopping block….
Chopping Wood from David D. on Vimeo.
This post is really about two things. ONE – to thank Karenne whose post brief post about the video below got my brain flooded with a thousand volts. TWO – to briefly and strongly, suggest an important point about instructing and teaching.
First the video. (because who wants second hand news?).
I have a long history with the holocaust and especially Victor Frankl. I have bought the book and given to so many people – I really think I should start my own church! Man’s Search for Meaning (or the story of Logotherapy). But my post isn’t about my fixation with the holocaust or the lesson’s within, nor Victor Frankl and myself. This post is about setting up your classroom for success.
It is like Victor says – “crabbing” . Set the goals high. If you fall short, it will be much higher than where you ever could have gotten otherwise.
Let your students know your high expectations – in your own fashion and with your own style. It isn’t an act or a game or an order. It is your belief in your students, each and every one. We are all miraculous and a gift to existence. Make each one see that and you will be landing on many a far away runway.
And then, when you are not teaching, you can sit content and be happy that many are arriving at their destinations because they had the “afront” and the “idealism” to reach high, to fly high. The wisest words I ever heard were on some slochy Sunday sermon show – the evangelist saying, “if you fall, fall looking up – because if you can look up, you can get up. And if you can get up, you can do so much more….”. Reach high, or what’s a heaven for.
I’ll end my sermon with a sermon. Martin Luther King Jr. He says it differently but the message is the same. The Drum Major Speech.
I’ve spent A LOT of time on social networks. Probably much more time on forums (which I also consider SNs) than with blogs and the normal SN communities. It isn’t easy to create a successful community that is free and without pretense. And, with doing the time, comes some insider knowledge – some wisdom that everybody that’s done time garners.
Here, I will share in 5 posts, the notes of my mind, the crumbs and scratchings and conclusions I’ve arrived at through “doing time”. Let’s go!
Nobody, not even YOU, owns a social network.
Often I get introduced as, “the guy who owns “xxxx”" Couldn’t be a more inaccurate and false statement about me. Even, “created” would be wrong. SNs are alive, they aren’t built but nurtured and inflamed. I’ve learned that SNs are about thought and process. They aren’t static commodities like houses or even your next meal. They are atoms that twirl and spin and most importantly collide. There is no hiding from this fact – you may have started the fire but it is for others to throw wood on it, to continue the inhertance. If anyone “owns” a SN, it is those of the moment, who are stoking it. Not the guy with the face and the idea. It is like giving birth. The moment it/he/she is born, they are no longer yours. This also means, like human “beings” , you can’t buy, sell or trade in SN commodities. Merely abandon (with the necessary condemnation).
Surf softly and carry a big CLICK.
Paramount to the success of a SN is that there is a cop. But a cop that knows the line and doesn’t blather. A cop that keeps the atmosphere correct. I’ve been on so many SNs which are full of expletives and “he said, she said”…. Full of adhoc and whimsical deletions of posts. This isn’t right, it is ungodly. Let most go but know your limits and then CLICK goodbye. No explanation given – they’ll know.
One of my goals this summer is to be more personal in my writing/blogging. I know I am guilty of sharing precious little about myself. I pontificate, philosophize, condemn, encourage but in that, I share little of “who I am”. I don’t want to be that kind of writer, blogger or secret sharer. So here is a personal post, one of many this summer as I “gavte la nata”, “take out the cork”.
This video haunts me. I just stumbled upon it, sent a message by google about it. It was about 2 and half years ago as I trained to do a charity 24 hour run on a treadmill. I’ve had a great career in running. Both middle/marathon running and ultrarunning. I say “had” because soon after this, my run was cancelled and I started to have horrible problems in one calf. Now, a few years later, never been able to run again and now even inactive, am having horrible circulation and clotting problems with my legs.
I say this not for any pity. I say this because WE ALL WILL HAVE THESE DIPS. In teaching too. You can be the damndest best teacher around but life can throw you some whammees. You can get an administrator/principal from hell. Your personal life can effect everything. You just might “lose that teaching feeling” for no apparent reason. You could be put into a situation that nobody, not even the Dead Poet guy, could climb out of. You might just freak out from blowing too many student’s noses and wiping up too much cola off the floor of your classroom.
But it isn’t the problem that is the problem. It is how you fall. We all will fall but I ask you as a teacher, if you fall – fall facing up. Because if you can look up, you can get up. That’s the only lesson I have to relate about teacher burnout. Burnout but then leave an ember, and re-ignite.
I will. I’ll be running again. Maybe not setting any more records or breaking the tape first again. But I’ll be running and I’ll write to you about it here.
David
** Not your ordinary, endless list – just what’s number 1.
You are replaceable!!!!
Yes, that’s it in a nutshell. It is a HARD thing to learn, however simple and comprehensible on the surface.
I’ve worked and given my best in a lot of jobs. But make no mistake, I learned the hard way – we/I/you/them – all expendable and replaceable.
I’m fortunate to be in a position to be absolutely frank and to the point with teachers. Also, fortunate to be asked for advice at times. The greatest thing a teacher can learn is that despite their greatness, despite all they do, despite how much attachment they form to a class / a school – you can be replaced.
Be it a substitute or be it with a new teacher the next year or be it upon your leaving – you will for the most part, be forgotten. That’s the nature of things and your job is to be in the moment. Don’t seek immortality or being omnipotent. You will fall hard.
Tough medicine. Chew and swallow. It will make you realize what your place/job is all about.
Spring is here in this part of the world. Hope rings eternal. I call it “the filling”. The world replenishes itself and begins the cycle of rebirth. In a very significant way – teaching is this same “planting of seeds” and nurturing of the gift of life.
Over the last year – I’ve enjoyed reflecting on “teaching” through my forum collection, “The Tao of Teaching”.
Now, you can get everything as a presentation for easy browsing. Hope you enjoy and please comment on the forum and add your own thoughts!
I’ve always loved Charles Bukowski. Though much of his writing is “off” when he hits it – he’s dead on. God like.
I was reading today, thinking about the writing process and Bukowski’s wonderful poem, “IF I Taught Creative Writing” came rushing back to me. So here it is below. Along with a recent Bukowski video I made of his immortal “Broken Shoelace”. — He always gives good advice. Get other videos I’ve made HERE and HERE – if you like this one.
If I Were to Teach Creative Writing
now, if you were teaching creative
writing, he asked, what would you
tell them?
I’d tell them to have an unhappy love
affair, hemorrhoids, bad teeth
and to drink cheap wine,
to keep switching the head of their
bed from wall to wall
and then I’d tell them to have
another unhappy love affair
and never to use a silk typewriter
ribbon,
avoid family picnics
or being photographed in a rose
garden;
read Hemingway only once,
skip Faulkner
ignore Gogol
stare at photos of Gertrude Stein
and read Sherwood Anderson in bed
while eating Ritz crackers,
realize that people who keep
talking about sexual liberation
are more frightened than you are.
listen to E. Power Biggs work the
organ on your radio while you’re
rolling Bull Durham in the dark
in a strange town
with one day left on the rent
after having given up
friends, relatives and jobs.
never consider yourself superior and /
or fair
and never try to be.
have another unhappy love affair.
watch a fly on a summer curtain.
never try to succeed.
don’t shoot pool.
be righteously angry when you
find your car has a flat tire.
take vitamins but don’t lift weights or jog.
then after all this
reverse the procedure.
have a good love affair.
and the thing
you might learn
is that nobody knows anything–
not the State, nor the mice
the garden hose or the North Star.
and if you ever catch me
teaching a creative writing class
and you read this back to me
I’ll give you a straight A
right up the pickle
barrel.
One of my previous blog posts spoofed the 7 “marvellous” sins of great teachers. Now, I’d like to unspoof and great real and talk about “new” English teachers.
I just spent 2 days interviewing 29 new teachers each day! Wow, talk about a treadmill….. The teachers besides answering questions had to go through a "demo" lesson where they had 10 minutes to pretend they were teaching a class and teach a given language point. Not very helpful IMO for judging a teacher but during these lesson demonstrations, I daydreamed a bit and scribbled down my own thoughts about what I think are the main weaknesses of new teachers in the classroom. I base these on my own failings as much as my experiences talking to / watching new teachers. I’ve been there and done that and came through (but challenges still remain). I’m sure I’m missing some others and please chip in and let me know what I’ve missed. Here, I’m speaking generally about all new English teachers but in particular, new native speaking teachers.
1. Too FAST! – It is like a machine gun! There is no slowing down and enjoying the experience in this new teacher’s classroom. Bang, bing, boom! Students don’t get the time to process instructions, don’t get the time to process input. New teachers don’t wait for an answer from a student, they just jump to the next student for an answer! When speaking, they don’t pause (speak at a normal speed but count to 3 between sentences, this is a good rule for English teachers). Everything is too fast in a new teachers classroom – they try to do too much , too quickly! It’s not a race nor an assembly line. Rule 1 SLOW DOWN! ENJOY YOUR CLASS AS HUMAN BEINGS.
2. Interjections. — New teachers speak in a conversational fashion with lots of "ummms", "ughs", "like"s, "you know"s etc…. This is very confusing to students. Here’s a typical new teacher comment, " Well, you see, like, umm, you know, you must go down the street, and ummm, turn left and like, you’ll see a building on , urrr, ummm, your right. There, you know, there is a guy ….." You get the point. Rule 2 – CLEAN UP YOUR SPEECH.
3. No Routines. Good teachers have a set routine. They have an agenda on the board. Students know every lesson what will happen, in a general sense. Students need this! New teachers change their lessons daily and the students never know what’s next. Is it a game, a worksheet, the textbook? What? This is a major cause of all classroom management issues in new teacher’s classrooms. Keep a routine, students will thank you (but within that routine, change the content/curriculum). Rule 3 – AVOID CHAOS!
4. No Review. — In language classrooms, students need to encounter the lesson language many times, they need review! This should be a main part of all lessons but few new teachers do so. Why? Because of pacing (see point 1), they go too fast and seldom ever have time for it. They "stuff" too much into their lessons. Rule 4 – REPEAT, REVIEW, REDO
5. Failure to model – Many new teachers explain and seldom model enough. Students need a lesson activity or a task NOT explained but modeled. Go through it slowly with another student, demonstrating and NOT ONLY telling. Modeling will solve a lot of issues. Start and do things full class, then move to groups/pairs. Rule 5 – SHOW AND GO!
6. No Presence — Many new teachers lack what I call "presence". They don’t stand up straight, they don’t have the look and "eyes’ that a good teacher should have. They don’t move around the class and make it their home/playfield. They remain at the front. Further, new teachers many times seem frantic in moving at the front of the class. Students can’t focus on your words when you are moving so! Rule 6 – STAND AND DELIVER.
7. L1 under and overdose — Many new teachers either use too much or too little of the student’s mother tongue. The L1 can be invaluable for instruction and support but must be used judiciously and at the right times. Otherwise it becomes both a crutch and a confusion for students. Here are my guidelines for using L1 in the classroom. Rule 7 – L1 IS A HOT SPICE, USE IT WELL OR RUIN THE MEAL.
Of course, I’m speaking in a general vein. Not all this applies, to all new teachers. Next time, I’ll put my magnifying glass onto experienced teachers and what their 7 deadly sins are!
