Knowing how and when to raise your eyebrows to elicit the kind of response you’re after from a student or how to move around the classroom and/or moderate your voice to ensure that students are engaged and ‘with you’ are just some of the skills that should be second nature to teachers in our classrooms. But are they?
Are teachers born with these skills or are they skills that need to be specifically taught in teacher preparation programs? Or maybe they are the kinds of skills that develop along the way during the ‘on the job’ training gotten during teaching pracs?
It’s a while since I went through my teacher preparation program, but I’m certain that I never sat through specific instruction sessions on how to ensure I was an ‘engaging’ teacher. I’ve no recollection of ever collecting ‘how to tips’ from the classes attended during my three year long teacher preparation program. Instead, I just kind of picked up skills, gleaned either from my own trial and error in the classroom or as helpful suggestions by supervising teachers or lecturers who critiqued me during my teaching pracs.
Yet when listening to Christopher Emdin in this TED video, his advice makes perfect sense.
Student teachers can gain much from listening to what this man has to say and taking on board – in the classroom – some of those skills used routinely by those whose profession it is to reach out and engage an audience. Making those routines a part of a teaching personae will ensure that students in our schools are engaged and inspired.
Teacher training programs too, would do well to take note of Edmin’s message.
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