Pular para o conteúdo principal

Week 02: Response to "Is the Great American Teacher Dead?"

In this week's assignment, I read an article by John J. Ivers called "Is the Great American Teacher Dead?"

    Ivers is a Ph.D., currently Dean of the College of Language & Letters from Brigham Young - Idaho University. In his article, he invites the reader to think about the U.S student culture and their lack of motivation and inspiration. According to his study, this issue is faced in all U.S colleges, even the most famous and elite Institutions. It seems that teachers are now just the delivery of a message, and the students are just listeners. The Institutions are facing a lack of depth in their teachings. They spread an environment closer to a war zone than a supportive, inviting, creative environment as the Colleges are mean to be. I need to say that here in Brazil aren't so far from the same perspective. We can see Colleges full of students, but we are not seeing their growth during their pursuit of a degree. The most important discoveries and innovations from the last centuries came from College Research Centers. 

    What needs to be done to transform the College into the flaming storehouse of ideas from earlier days? How can we, as teachers, help to build critical thinking students? How to transform ourselves from mere message delivers to passionate student developers? This is what Ivers helps to think about in this article. He suggests that we have the task to not bored our students, with the same old-fashioned lesson recipe. Instead, we need to transform the theory into action. In a quote attributed to Dirks (2006), he says that "A truly transformative experience is on where 'we are left with the feeling that life will not be as it was before, that this experience has created a sense that we cannot back to the way we were before the experience'"(p.132) This is such the type of transformation that must occur. Despite Ivers had talked about the American College Culture, what he suggests is applicable to all teachers who want to be better.

    Ivers suggests that despite our culture we need to develop universal elements that can be found in all cultures. He lists some of those elements and describes how each one of them can change us into better teachers. I want to mention a few (some of the mine comments)

. Dance (The teacher doesn't need to stay static during all class. Moving around the class, being closer than away, making gestures can help to create this movement feeling. And isn't knowledge a movement? From one step to another as we go deep into a subject. By doing this "dance" in the class we create this movement feeling)

. Generosity admired (I want to reproduce Iver's comment " be fair, not a tyrant" Life itself is too hard. Why do we need to add another anxiety layer to a student already tired from having this feeling?)

. Jokes (This is a suggested form to keeps the student's attention Ivers said. And I need to agree and say that well-balanced, jokes can create a welcoming environment, where the student feels safe to make mistakes. And we learn when we make mistakes)

. Empathy (There’s no need for more tyrants in the world. Instead, we desperately need more empathy)

. Rhythm (If we maintain the same speech speed and the same voice tone during all lessons, we will lose the student's attention after a couple of minutes. So, by changing the speech speeds, changing the intonation, making dramatic pauses, all this can help to create a good delivery)

    The teacher doesn't need to perfect. The teacher just needs to be passionate about his career to develop passionate students.


Comentários

Postar um comentário

Postagens mais visitadas deste blog

Week 5: Response to "Culture Differences Concerning Time" - 10/15/2021

      This is for sure a great topic to discuss! I was introduced to the concept of monochronic and polychronic time persons. Those who are monochronic are concerned about schedules and procedures. They obey a set of written and not written rules about how sacred time is. I can't think of a better example than the "time for Tea" from England. The British are worldly well-known for how accurate they are concerning their time schedule. The polychronic on the other hand is self-orientated to preserve relationships and family. They are sensitive and are concerned to not harm other person's feelings. Obviously, Latin-Americans are the most well-known for such behavior.      It's fun to see how these two kinds of people interact with each other, and how they bring their paradigms with them. The monochronic one will always be upset with the lack of responsibility and contempt with law and procedures from the polychronic. And the polychronic will always think that ...
Postar um comentário
Leia mais

Week 6: Response to "Individualism vs Collesctivism" - 10/21/2021

    Living in society demands certain written and non-written rules about what is permitted and what is prohibited. To be accepted we must do the permitted thing and avoid the prohibited. But have you known that these rules changed dramatically according to the place that you live?     We have what is called Individualism and also Collectivism. In Individualism, you are the center. You are the most important part of society. This means that you satisfy first your needs and then the others. But when you are doing something wrong, is just your fault. In Collectivism in another hand, the group needs to come first. This means putting your need aside for the benefit of the group.     When teaching we need to understand this background from our students to better understand and know how to conduct the class. Which will be the best approach to use? The student will receive and perceive our conducting in the same way? How to extract their best-in-class activities? ...
1 comentário
Leia mais

Week 7: Response to "Cross Cultural Students in the Classroom" - 10/26/2021

      Today we will talk about Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom. How we as Teachers can conduct a class with a variety of cultural backgrounds? How can we use the differences in our favor? How can we anticipate some possible barriers/issues?     As we go deeper in this discussion, I want to invite you to read my opinion regarding Cultural issues such as Paradigm, Differences Concerning Time, Miscommunication, and so on, as you can find here in this blog. All of those mentioned topics help us to answer my initial questions. You see, I am deeply passionate about music. When I was younger, I used to sleep listening to a cassette from the Tabernacle Choir. And when I was listening, I was supposed to be the conductor. It always impressed me how one single person can produce such a difference in the interpretation of music! For a non-music-taught person, it seems that the conductor is just making movements with their arms. But for a music-taught person, each m...
Postar um comentário
Leia mais