Qualities of a good teacher are often discussed by teachers who are striving to be a success in teaching and to develop professionally. There is a variety of ideas and opinions. One of them is that a good teacher should be an actor. I can't agree with this as my personal values and beliefs are against it.
What do you think of this?
Looking forward to you pros and cons. Any of your ideas will be highly appreciated.
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Comments
rmnair
Hi,
I am Murali Nair and teaching English language in India. I feel that there is nothing wrong in doing a little acting while teaching language. But acting also must be sincere and apt to the situation.
With warm rgds
Murali Nair
girishseshamani
I have been training people across all age groups over the last 8 years. A teacher's profession is not only highly respected but also very sacred. Putting on an appearance and genuine teaching cannot go hand in glove. I presume that by acting you are trying to suggest that the teacher needs to be flamboyant, stylish, give the feeling of knowing all or having the gift of the gab. Let me tell you honestly that even a kid can make out in a few days whether you really care for them and to what extent you know your subject. They are all blessed with this sixth sense.
You cannot hide your true self for long. Like you rightly put it, it is totally against my personal value systems also.
According to me the qualities of an excellent teacher are, the subject expertise, innovativeness, impartial by nature, respecting each student for what he is, being firm but polite, disciplinarian, creating trust in the students that you will take care of them, having a good sense of humour, and last but not the least dedication towards the profession.
Purely
jennifercowling
hadi82
honey80
It's necessary that in class students feel comfortable ....I agree but more than an actor that is a good idea in some cases where teacher deal with children for example with some kind of topics, a teacher must be a good guide, a facilitator a person who gives the contents for students in a easy and enjoyable way.
Olwyn Alexander
I agree that students will quickly see through a teacher who is simply 'putting on an appearance'. However, some of the best actors I've watched really made me feel that they were the person they were impersonating, so I think acting is perhaps quite a good metaphor for a good teacher. There are other ways to be a good teacher.
I went to an interesting talk on this topic by Silvana Richardson at the IATEFL conference in Cardiff. She based her talk on a book called The Good Teacher by Alex Moore, published in 2004. She identified three types of good teacher: the charismatic performer (I guess this could be the actor) who is born not made; the reflective practitioner who develops, e.g. through action research; the competent craftsperson who learns through training and hard work.
There were problems associated with all these metaphors: if actors are born not made then what hope is there for teachers who are not actors? Reflective practitioners can appear to be backward looking and not all reflection leads to positive insights and development. Competent craftspeople can give the impression that the ingredients of teaching, the competencies, can be listed. It overlooks the personal dimensions of teaching.
For myself, I think that my teaching reflects all these different metaphors and I will be a different kind of teacher on different days, depending on what other things are happening or have happened to me. However, I think these are useful abstractions for helping us to be more aware of and question the assumptions we bring to teaching.
Olwyn
anushbb
The matter is that the teacher is an actor and it does not depend on our desire. The question is - good actor or bad actor.
Nik Peachey
Hi Zira
Great question. I've known so many teachers who were failed / amateur / retired actors that I think there must be something in that. Personally, I think I've spent the last 20 years trying not to act like a teacher! I certainly think some ability to act can be beneficial for students, but I'm sure there are plenty of good teachers who can't act.
Best
Nik Peachey | Learning Technology Consultant, Writer, Trainer
Teacher Development: http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/
Student Activities: http://daily-english-activities.blogspot.com/
davekees
What do we mean by actor? Someone doing lines out of Shakesphere and parading around in some sort of costume? I don't think so. So what do we mean by actor?
I think teachers need to develop the skill to "read" the students in the same way a performer "reads" an audience. He needs to see if the students/audience is sluggish, sleepy, animated, excited, bored. After reading the students/audience, he needs to have the skill to respond to these unspoken needs. He needs to be able to introduce an activity, game, song or some other method to stir up the class and focus their attention if they seem a little slow or distracted. Once he does that, he can go on with his plans. There may be a time that he will need to abandon all of this plans for the day and simply do something else that could be more effectively learned. However, if the class is already ready, very mentally alert, then he knows that he can tackle more demanding material.
If it is a student-centered classroom, the teacher will meet the students needs not only mentally but in ways to orientated the students so they can get engaged in the materials.
Great performers, great actors, great musicians, know this. Great teachers know it too.
Dave Kees