Here I am, studying a program of courses that provide me with all the knowledge I need to teach EAL learners. What is my expected outcome for this program? To become a good EAL teacher, of course. But does the knowledge I am gaining in this program make me a good teacher? Can it? Should it?
It's a bit of a paradox, being a learner in a program that's supposed to teach me how to be a good teacher. One of my colleagues in the course used a perfect and valuable perspective in the explanation of one of the discussions (of many! LOL) that we've had throughout the program so far. The perspective they took was to place themselves in the position of the learner, and ask what they would expect from a 'good' teacher.
Caine and Caine (1991) note:
"Teachers need to understand that students' feelings and attitudes will be involved and will determine future learning. Because it is impossible to isolate the cognitive from the affective domain, the emotional climate in the school and classroom must be monitored on a consistent basis, using effective communication strategies and allowing for student and teacher reflection and metacognitive processes." (p. 82)How do you succeed in this emotional circus in the online approach of delivery? I suggest that there are few who are skilled in this, and fewer who have mastered it. It takes only one small error to affect the emotions of an online student, and this error can be as simple as, for example, suggesting to a student that their desired goals may be unachievable.
Teachers today, particularly in the electronic learning arena, have to be familiar with, and guarded against, such fallacies and demonstrate expert caution in not exposing their learners, either deliberately or accidentally, to affective situations that can have adverse effects on the success of the learner.
Bill,
ReplyDeleteI so appreciate your blog thoughts. My response to this entry - somehow, I think a really good teacher doesn't focus on emotions but focuses on the subject they are teaching - and leads students through discovery.
Trying not to offend anyone is just a nightmare in the classroom because that is not something you have control over - if a person takes offense at someone else's words, it is unlikely that you or anyone else will satisfy them... I am ALL for RESPECT - absolutely and all the time - I just think that classes need to be focused on the subject to be learned, not anyone's emotional state - there are other, important and valuable places for the focus to be on feelings. In a learning classroom, you are working things out and discovering about something outside yourself. Yes, we are all present and all have our agendas and feelings and opinions, but at the end of the class, something outside of yourself should be expereinced/gained. Maybe it is in the classroom that affective situations take place because it is a safe place to explore and have reactions and see what happens...
I think it is important to be sensitive but also as a teacher to focus on your subject and let the class have its/their reactions... that's part of learning.