Download Source: Madrid, D., Pérez, C., Muros, J. y Cordovilla, A. (1998

Source: Madrid, D., Pérez, C., Muros, J. y Cordovilla, A. (1998): Education through English. Granada: Grupo
Editorial Universitario (88 págs.) Dep. Legal: Gr-1183-98, ISBN: 84-89908-58-3, pp. 81-84
THE TEACHING JOB
1. Listen and learn:
Teacher’s roles
In general, the function of teachers is to help students learn by imparting knowledge to them and by
offering situations in which students can learn effectively. In addition to that, teachers play other
roles, which vary from one society to another and from one educational level to another. Some of
these roles are performed in the school, some in the community:
Teacher’s roles at school
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Facilitator and mediator of learning
Controller of student behaviour
Confidant to students
Evaluator of the student’s performance
Curriculum organizer
Bureaucrat
Researcher of classroom events
Member of teachers' organization
Teacher’s roles in the community
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Public servant
Expert in some area of knowledge or skills
Community leader
Agent of social change
The teaching performance
Apart from the teacher’s personality traits, there are classroom techniques
and strategies which make teaching more effective. For a class to learn
effectively the teacher must know to be firm and directive, unobtrusive or
subtle when necessary. There are some basic aspects of manner that are
important to learn and apply at the right time.
Eye-contact and control of the class
If we wish to check on the reactions of the students to our teaching procedures, we should make
sure we observe different parts of the class. A common error among beginning teachers is to focus
attention on the same group of students during the whole class, frequently those in the front row.
The teacher is thus depriving him/herself of valuable feedback from the rest of the class. Eyecontact and noting the expressions on the students' faces are thus essential if we are to perceive
what is actually happening at any given moment of the class. Further, eye-contact allows us to do
the following:
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To show that we are aware of what is happening in different parts of the classroom.
To help establish rapport: a closer relationship sympathy, confidence, etc.
To attract the student's attention and encourage them to listen.
To show a student or group of students the teacher is interested in what is going on.
To get feedback from the student's reactions: their gestures and facial expressions.
Teacher movement
Due to the nature of teaching and the need for constant changes in activity-types, the student's
centre of attention is also constantly shifting, as are the teacher's position and attitude. The demands
of teacher-student interaction, activity supervision, the requirements of individual students may all
require the teacher to move around the classroom. A static position in class may be boring and is
seldom efficient in the classroom. On the other hand, most activities require the teacher to move and
adopt different positions in the classroom. Sometimes it is important to stand at the front of the
classroom in a clearly visible position, to walk round assisting students or to sit at the back while
students perform at the front. When writing on the blackboard, it is advisable to go on talking, turn
round and ask questions about the writing and move position so that everybody can see properly.
Student participation and attention to diversity
Another error frequently made by teachers is always to speak to the same group of students, those
who are most willing to participate in the class, thus ignoring, albeit unwittingly, other less able,
less well-behaved, less interested or simply shyer students. We have to ensure that all the students
take an active part in the learning experience. There should always be simple exercises which can
be done by any student, whatever his/her level (within reason).
Teacher talk
The first basic principle is that when the teacher talks to the whole class he/she should be clearly
heard from any seat. (S)he must therefore adjust the volume of his/her voice so that it carries easily
- while at the same time ensuring that natural intonation patterns are maintained as far as possible. It
is advisable to use gestures to get the students to quieten down, instead of forcing the voice or
shouting. Very often it is sufficient to drop the voice suddenly, and perhaps accompany this with
gestures, to draw the attention of a group of students who are talking or disturbing the class.
Controlling talking time
Research studies have proved that teachers do about 60% of the talking in the classroom. So it is
important not to forget that a balance between teacher talking time and student talking time is
necessary.
Tone of voice
It is also important to modulate the inflection, intonation, intensity and
even the timbre of our voice, in order to be as expressive as possible and
to indicate different types of activity, or stages in the task in question to correct, introduce a new activity, reinforce, give "feedback", etc.,
with the right tone of voice.
Student-teacher relationships: establishing rapport
One of the factors which most contributes to the success - or failure - of teaching is the personal,
and indeed affective relationship established between teacher and student. Student views on the
importance of student-teacher relationships indicate that the teacher should:
- be friendly and caring;
- be cheerful, and show plenty of optimism and empathy;
- be readily approachable;
- create a warm and relaxed atmosphere in the classroom;
- be original and creative.
Teaching areas and subjects
The subject matter taught also has a marked influence on the total teaching situation. It may be
conveniently divided into broad headings of languages, humanities, sciences, mathematics, and
arts, with specific objectives:
- Languages call for verbal learning and production based on oral work, particularly during
the early phases.
- The humanities call for an understanding of cause-effect relations of immediate and remote
connections between persons and institutions and man in his environment.
- The sciences call for induction from experience, though deductive processes are required
when the laws of science are formalized into mathematical terms.
- Arts and literature call for a fairly free opportunity to explore and create. A large part of
the teacher's role is as a group leader, and the group life of the school and the classroom
must influence the teaching situation.
Groups and classes: streaming and tracking
The individual pupil is educated under the influence of the group to which he belongs. His
achievements and attitudes are subject to evaluation by the group, leading to support or ostracism,
and (s)he often sets his standards according to these influences. In many schools, the range of ages
in any class is about one year. But in rural schools groups of children may be heterogeneous by age
and ability, and the mode of teaching has to cope with a number of subunits moving along at
different rates. The teacher's problem is to coordinate the work of these small, dissimilar groups in
such a way that all get attention. The effect of "streaming," or
"tracking"—that is, selecting homogeneous groups by both age and
intellectual ability—has promoted am awful lot of criticism. This
practice has provoked extreme opinions:
a) The case for uniformity is that putting a pupil with his
intellectual peers makes teaching more effective and
learning more acceptable.
b) The case against it draws attention to its bad effects on the
morale of those children in the lower streams.
Experimental evidence on the problem is diverse.
Preparing and planning classes
The complete act of teaching involves more than the presentation and development of lesson
material. Before that, the teacher must think about some important aspects very carefully:
 the capabilities, achievements, strengths and weaknesses, background, and interests of his
learners;
 and the short- and long-term objectives he hopes to achieve in his lesson and series of
lessons.
The lesson or teaching unit is as a succession of periods of varying length of instruction. Although
the student's own curiosity, experience, and observation are important, so is the cyclic activity of
teacher and learner. The teacher selects and arranges the material to be learned, and this is what is
meant by guiding the learner's discovery and construction activity.
Motivating the students
Teachers must face the problem of how to motivate students. In general, motivation is a sort of
inner drive or desire that moves people to a particular action. It can be considered as a
multidimensional construct that works in a cyclical way starting with: 1) some kind of personal
needs, expectations, beliefs and ideas that originate 2) favourable attitudes, a desire to achieve a
goal and a drive or move towards the goal; 3) some persistence and effort is maintained until the
final results are obtained and 4) an emotional reaction (satisfaction, indifference, disappointment,
etc.) Is produced according to the type of results obtained at the end
of the cycle. The extend to which results are achieved influences the
whole cycle.
Evaluation
While and after each lesson or program of instruction, the teacher
must assess its results before moving to the next cycle of teaching
events. Progress over longer intervals of learning can be measured by
more formal tests or examinations within the school or at local
administrative level.
Post-instructional assessment may have several purposes:
- to discover when classes or year groups have reached some minimum level of competence,
- to produce a measure of individual differences, or to diagnose individual learning-thinking
difficulties;
A wide variety of assessment techniques can be used, including:
- the analysis of work produced in the course of learning,
- continuous assessments by the teachers,
- essay-type examinations,
- creative tasks,
- and objective tests.
The content of the assessment material may also vary widely, ranging from that that asks for
reproduction of learned material to that that evokes application, generalization, and transfer to new
problem situations.
ORAL/WRITTEN ACTIVITIES
1. In your opinion, what are the three most important roles teachers play at school?
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2. What are the main functions of eye-contact in the classroom?
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3. What effects do static and active teachers have on their students and their achievement?
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4. What precautions must teachers take when they talk in class?
Generals: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
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Talking time: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….
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Tone of voice:
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
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Mention some aspects of the teacher’s behaviour that help students establish rapport with the
students: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
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What are the four big curricular areas?
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What’s streaming or tracking the students in a school?
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What’s the purpose of evaluation? .....................................................................................................
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What do you think are the most efficient evaluation techniques?
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