Apr

9

Identity of a language teacher

Filed Under Methodology | Comments Off

Little had I known about teaching profession before I became a student of English philology. And still, upon attending a methodology course as well as having a firm theoretical foundation with respect to different strategies and techniques enhancing the process of learning and teaching, I cannot say much about the profession since I do not work as a teacher. After entering the college I did not really think that I could become a teacher and even now, as a graduate, I am still not certain as to whether I desire to become one. Based on my experience as a student as well as on my frequent contact with a number of teachers, I’m inclined to say that the teaching profession might be one of the most demanding and responsible jobs on the employment market. It takes a lot of courage and self-confidence to face a group of students, teaching them something new, something valuable that they could remember and use for life. On the other hand, it is also extremely difficult to meet students’ expectations. I suppose teaching has also a lot to do with self-acceptance since only by being in harmony with ourselves can we approach any kind of task and perform well. Teaching is also about responsibility since, apart from parents, these are also the teachers who take on their shoulders a heavy responsibility for students’ upbringing and education which, in turn, may lead to many stressful situations. Am I a good role model for my students? Will they benefit from the lesson? Did my students enjoy the lesson? These certainly are the questions each and every teacher asks himself or herself at the end of a school day.
Good teaching is a phenomenon that cannot be subject to objective analysis since there are as many characteristics of good teaching as there are teachers and students. Some would identify good teaching with the teacher’s ability to clearly transmit knowledge or the ability to create an environment that would be conducive to effective learning and teaching. Others would associate good teaching with passion, with establishing a special kind of rapport with students or with being able to spot and cater to students’ needs. Endless is the list of traits that a good teacher should or should not possess. Thus, what distinguishes a good teacher from a bad one?
For the whole of my educational career I have dealt with a number of teachers and each of them was one of a kind in that they displayed different attitudes to the subject they taught, to students and to themselves. They also used different teaching methods as well as they set different requirements. Were all of them good teachers? I am not sure, but certainly all of them struggled to get the best out of themselves as well as they tried to elicit as much from us, students, as possible. Some of them succeeded in doing so, others did not. Particularly effective were those teachers who never tried to win students’ sympathy, who were strict and demanding, those who evoked in students fear and respect at the same time. Not only did they make us work twice as hard as we normally would have but they also belong to a group of memorable educators who are called to mind with a feeling of sentiment.
If I were to name some of the traits that a good teacher should possess, I would certainly mark knowledge, interest, communicative skills and flexibility as absolutely crucial.
As for the first trait, knowledge definitely is essential if one seriously thinks of teaching. It is hard to imagine a teacher with poor knowledge and qualifications, though there might be exceptions. However, the teachers together with doctors and lawyers are expected to display exceptional knowledge in the field of their subject. A knowledgeable teacher is also a developing teacher who improves his/her qualifications and is up-to-date with the newest achievements and breakthroughs in the field. Nonetheless, it is not exclusively knowledge that renders teaching good or bad, but it is also the way the teacher conveys that knowledge to students, which leads us to another crucial characteristic describing a good teacher, namely interest.
A good teacher is skillful in making knowledge interesting and relevant to students. I believe that making lessons attractive can be achieved only when the teacher finds his/her subject fascinating. Moreover, only by arousing students’ interest in the subject and by showing them how useful it may prove in their lives can the teacher have a motivating effect on his/her students in the learning process. Indifferent attitude of the teacher toward the subject may prevent learning from taking place.
Another important characteristic of a good teacher is the ability to communicate knowledge in a clear and understandable way so that it is reachable to students. It is also the ability of the teacher to organize and present material in a fashion that would be relevant to students’ abilities, needs and expectations. This can be achieved if the teacher knows his/her students enough to recognize their strengths and weaknesses and if he/she is willing to use that knowledge in preparation for the lessons. Good teaching is not solely about transmitting knowledge to students regardless of whether they understand it or not. It is doing so in a manner that would reach them and awake their inquisitiveness.
The last-but-not-least attribute of a good educator is flexibility. Personally, I interpret this trait as a capacity for balancing between managing lessons in a way that would be in accordance with the syllabus or abandoning the syllabus when a spontaneous classroom situation arises that might bring a valuable learning experience to the students. Flexibility may also be connected with a teaching style. In each classroom there are situations which require different behaviors from the teacher. Sometimes teachers need to act as authorities or even tyrants in order to discipline students, stressing the gravity of the situation, whereas in other instances they should act as a friend or a facilitator. Flexibility is the ability to adjust to changing circumstances. It is the tolerance of the unexpected and the ability to deal with it.
As Alice Wellington Rollins once put it: “The test of a good teacher is not how many questions he can ask his pupils that they will answer readily, but how many questions he inspires them to ask him which he finds it hard to answer”. I am absolutely convinced that the above quotation is the quintessence of good teaching as well as I strongly believe that a combination of all the aforementioned qualities makes teachers good at their profession. And if I ever become a teacher, I would like my identity as an educator to include all of these traits.


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