Technology and the teacher’s personality

Teacher extraordinaire Mr Keating appears as the epitome of the charismatic teacher – one that his students are sure to remember long after their school years are over. Way over the top as this might be (though I am sure that, whatever we may say, many of us would love to feel we are a little bit like Mr Keating) it is only natural to ask ourselves: does the personality of the teacher matter in this Brave New World of technology and on-line courses?
As teachers we are in the business of influencing people. How can we do that? It helps if we imagine each individual as a big elephant with a rider sitting on top of it (a metaphor first used by J. Haidt 2006). The elephant is our emotional side; it is big, strong, somewhat impulsive and not as predictable as we would like it to be. The rider is our rational side; it can guide the elephant and the latter usually allows itself to be directed by the former (but if there is a disagreement, we all know who we should bet on! J )
So how can we influence people? There are 3 ways: a) We can motivate the elephant; this is what charismatic teachers do – they inspire their students, and this clearly works best in a f2f context. b) We can direct the rider – appealing to the logical part of our students and telling them what to do. This can work equally well in a f2f and an online context. c) We can shape the path down which the elephant and the rider will walk (an idea first proposed by Heath & Heath 2011 – click here to watch a 2-min clip). By careful use of choice architecture (see Thaler & Sunstein 2008), we can ‘nudge’ the duo in the direction we would like them to go. * An on-line environment is ideal for such an approach. However….

References:

• Bloom, P. (2008) Introduction to Psychology. Yale Courses, You Tube
• Haidt, J. (2006) The Happiness Hypothesis. London: Arrow Books
• Heath, C. & Heath, D. (2011) Switch. London: Random House
• Lieberman, M. (2013) Social. Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Thaler, R. & Sunstein, C. (2008) Nudge. Michigan: Yale University Press

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HALINA'S LEARNING, TEACHING AND MUCH MORE....: Teaching English Adults

HALINA'S LEARNING, TEACHING AND MUCH MORE....: Teaching English Adults: When we decide to teach adults, the awareness, as well as comprehension of whom we teach and what we teach, is essential here...

Teaching English Adults

When we decide to teach adults, the awareness, as well as comprehension of whom we teach and what we teach, is essential here.

1)     Adults do not want to waste the time.

Some adults take language courses because of a job requirement while others have their specific goal to attain (such as a language exam or a professional interview ).

Adults expect direct, practical benefit. All of them will raise the similar questions

·        Why,

·        What for,

·        How,

·        Who (is my teacher?),

·         What else could I achieve instead?

·         Is the time well spent?

All lessons must have a clear outcome, perhaps even a practical takeaway. It is necessary to define specific profits at the end of the lesson and associate the benefits to the individual learning purposes.

2)     Adults are reflective learners; they think about

·       what is challenging or where I require more support

·       individual learning strategies and self-evaluation

·       maintaining a sense of responsibility for learning and achieving goals  

3)  Motivation is varied, and flexibility is crucial.

Teachers have to be flexible and ready for different approaches, wide-ranging content or even unconventional paths to lead to the same goal.

Creating a context for meaningful learning is one of the tasks.

4) Mature students feel the need for direct benefit as well as dominant language skills.

·        Learners are looking for a solution to an exact problem at hand, immediately.

·       The fundamental question is: “What should I do to get this to work?”

·        Mature learners usually want to accomplish a particular task, or at least, see a noticeable benefit for the future.

·       Adults want to use language for a real-world reason.

5) The different abilities of adult learners are evident.

I am against using grammar tables, linguistic terms and other abstractions in language teaching. However, if they can help the grown-up learner why do not explain the grammar rules?