Teach English in Yukou Zhen - Luliang Shi

Theme: Role of the teacher I often walk into a classroom and ask myself “What is it that I will leave these kids with today that will help them the most in their pursuit of knowledge and language learning and acquisition?” I take my role as a teacher very seriously, and to be honest, the answer to this questions changes each day for me. Thus, what I deliver changes each day, too - even if the content happens to be the same. I don't think this is a bad thing. I think it is important to be flexible and have direction towards an end goal of bringing the students towards reaching their goals, and different thought in how to pursue that can be beneficial to different types of students and result in a teacher learning new and better ways of getting people to that end goal. From my personal experience, most learning takes place during practice during home-time use of the language. What is of paramount important is for students: 1) to know they are capable of learning the language 2) to have the confidence and willingness to speak publicly 3) to apply a disciplined approach that builds a confidence 4) to be provided a disciplined leader for children to model after 5) to be provided a clear path to follow Thus, I would argue the Manager, or Controller, is the most important role of the teacher, which in my view holds the aforementioned responsibilities. Now, this doesn't mean that the teacher should be charismatically inspiring the students through speech and emotion the whole time during class, but in the way they conduct themselves in each type of role that pushes the students to do more and be better. I believe that this role does play out in each of the other types, too which I will explain shortly. The other types of teacher roles include: Organizer, Assessor, Prompter, Participant, Tutor, Resource or Facilitator, Model, and Observer. The organizer plays an important role bringing students together to perform different activities. This would be chaotic if the Manager is not a disciplined leader who is following/providing a clear path to follow. The Assessor, providing feedback and assessment, the Manager must be able to instill confidence in the students that they are capable learners and that the feedback received is to help make them better (and that is part of the process of evolution to make them great, not a reflection of any personal inability or personal impression of them). I believe, from my experience, children can understand this from a very early age. Prompter, encourages students to speak, the Manager must have confidence and be an example for students to show confidence in them, to speak with confidence. Showing humility of ones own learner challenges and overcoming them helps the to relate so that when they struggle, and the Manager must prompt - they do let the student struggle a bit so that the words once given, are learned. (Of course, too much struggle may reflect a more difficult level than appropriate for that student). Participant, when acting as an equal, the Manager should retain their disciplined nature (and as time progresses all students should start to adopt these manners, too) and show how students ought to act, as the Manager, teacher, acts that way even when they are acting as a student. Tutor, providing direct guidance, the Manager should err to the side of professionalism and strength, so as to give the students confidence in the teacher. The students may feel discouraged at times and ask for advice. Having that positive reinforcement becomes all the more powerful when given by someone of great authority than by someone with less authority. Managers should manage questions fairly, and speak loud enough that all can benefit from what is being asked (as students often have similar questions yet fail to ask them). Resource or Facilitator, letting the students be, to do their tasks, it is important to let the students occasionally do their own thing. They need to build a confidence that they are capable to do things on their own and that mistakes are okay. This will given them confidence to do work independently at home. And, know that there is a time and place for correction. The Manager should be instilling this confidence and pushing him or her to keep going into what may be uncomfortable for them (i.e. leaving a known mistake on a page in an effort to finish an assignment completely, on time). Model, students look to you for guidance, a Manager should show belief in their own abilities to learn and overcome challenges, have an extreme confidence to speak publically, act in a disciplined way, be a model, demanding discipline, and follow through on punishments. Observer or Monitor, while watching from a distance, the Manager should still retain their air of discipline and lead the students to believe they are being watched and observed on all aspects (posture, focus, attention to detail), any weaknesses should be pointed out and addressed quickly. This gives them a feeling of importance. Mistakes are fine to be made and corrected following completion of tasks, when it comes to written work, but behavior or manner, or posture, should be called out at any time. As can be seen, I view the role of a Manager more than just how the teacher arranges the seating of the class, the order in which they engage with students, the rules they instill, etc. but as one that comes with a set of responsibilities that trickles into every aspect of a teachers other roles. I believe that taking these responsibilities to heart in ones role as a manager can help us better answer the daily question “ What is it that I will leave these kids with today that will help them the most in their pursuit of knowledge and language learning and acquisition?”