In his comment to my post about classroom management (The Power of Silence in a noisy class) CoffeeAddict has touched on something very important. He wrote: “… it is much easier to blame the students, parents, administration, school, colleagues, etc for whatever is wrong...” I thought that it was another pressing issue to address in a separate post.
I have very often heard seasoned teachers tell interns or fresh college graduates “Don’t smile when you first meet your class. Once you get your students to listen to you, then you may become yourself”.
Such statements have always caused a surge of inner protest in me. First of all, this is a “carrot and stick”approach to learners, which goes against anything that a good teacher should advocate for (humanistic teaching in my case). Secondly, in my view it is an acknowledgement of a teacher’s incompetence as an Educator. How would WE feel if on the first day of work our employer frowned on us just to make sure we are scared enough to do things right? Exactly! The answer is obvious.
Then why do we still hear such “great tips” in the staff rooms? Justifications are varied and truly remarkable:
1. Turkish students are used to it. (Why? Who instilled such expectations of a teacher in them?)
2. It works. (Of course it does!... for a short while)
3. It solves behavior problems. (see #2)
4. Other (I am sure each of you will be able to continue this list)
Anyone who has such a false start with a new group of students will eventually fail to establish a good rapport his/her learners. Then, the school, parents, administration are to be blamed. Often the whole schooling system in a particular institution becomes an excuse.
Follow-up questions:
· Have you felt like the school administrators and your colleagues should put an equal effort into teaching kids how to become good students by modeling and eliciting the right kind of behavior from them? If yes, how?
· Do you have a unified school/department policy toward and expectations from the teachers and students’ behavior in the classroom?
Looking forward to your replies,
Elena
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Comments
Dear Elena,
Your post remided me of something my first mentor told me: "Don't smile until Christmas!". In truth he said it as a joke but there was a warning hidden there as well and that was "don't become too friendly". These are kids but you are an adult". It is important to keep a sort of professional distance between you and them. After all, you are their teacher and not their buddy.
When you are a young inexperienced teacher and so very eager to have a good relationship with your kids, it is easy to fall into the "friend-trap". I have seen it happen at it is seldom a good thing. I don't mean that you shouldn't be friendly, kind, helpful, loving and understanding. Indeed you should be all those things. However, like any good parent you have to also be strict, tough and really rather "un-cool" sometimes.
The important thing is to convince your students that you have their best interest at heart. You do what you do so that they will be successful. When they believe that, much is won.
I smile a lot on the first day of school :-) And, btw - I am a she, not a he :-) My next blog post will be about what kind of discipline system we have at my school. You gave me that idea :-D! Nice working with you!
Cheers!
CoffeeAddict
@CoffeeAddict:
I apologize for “he”. Somehow, your nick made me think of a tough seasoned male teacher :)
As for “nice working with you”, the pleasure is mine! Frankly, when I signed up for blogathon, I was worried that I won’t be able to come up with original ideas and post frequently, but there are so many inspiring comments that offer me food for thought. (I should probably put it in a separate post and thank everybody).
Back to the post. I believe that it is important to voice you thoughts to the students. Things that seem obvious to adults might be deceptive to teens. I smile on the first, second, … any day school. I love what I do and my learners should know and feel it, but I always tell them “I might be kind and smiling in class but I don’t give out good marks as Christmas presents.” This one sentence usually spares me from kids crying their eyes out after the first exam because they had false expectations, thinking that they would be able to get by just upon a smile. They learn their lesson the hard way once and never make this mistake again (well, most kids in most cases)
Can’t wait to see you post on discipline!
Best,
Elena
Hi Elena,
I believe that teachers must be honest and sincere. In the very first lesson or later, you should smile if you really want to do that. If you behave artificially students will understand that. They observe us carefully. If you have 20 students in a classroom it means 40 cameras (eyes) are watching and recording you. To establish a good rapport, you must be honest, transparent and sincere. Makeshift acting can't win Oscar. In my current school there is a school policy that I don't like. Because, it has been prepared by school administration. In my opinion, there should be a school policy which is prepared by school administration, teachers, students and parents. It should include students' expectations. In my very first lesson, I prepare a list of expectations. Students prepare their list of expectations. And, I smiled a lot while doing this very first activity. In the following lessons, it's up to you to establish a good rapport. If you care about your students and yourself and your lesson, you'll manage to do that. I occasionally talk to students about their problems and experiences in my classes. I sometimes hear "I saw Mr. X or Mrs. Y smiling today, I didn't know s/he could smile". We are made up of flesh and blood. We can't always smile or vice versa. It's very important to have good human relationships and teacher skills.
Bülent
@seabiscuit: Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. I have nothing else to add. We are absolutely on the same page with you.