PARALLEL READING 1

Now read the excerpt from Tomlinson & Imbeau’s book titled “A philosophical compass for the journey ahead”. As you read, note down the following in your notebook:

- The excerpt refers to Maslow’s continuum of basic human needs. How can an understanding of these needs be helpful in the way in which you perceive teaching?

In today’s overly-complicated world, the entrance of a student in the school system is often accompanied with “great expectations” regarding his exit from it. It is very common that a young kid or a teenager leaves home to go to school carrying the hopes, wishes and guilt of his parents. Entering school the student is usually found in front of overly-tired teachers who strive to do their job –and by this I mean cover the curriculum- in a not so friendly, in most of the cases, environment. This school environment rarely helps the student express his needs and worries and does not allow much interaction between the student and the teacher himself.

It is about time we, the educators/teachers/coaches, understood that on the other side of the fence there are human beings with human needs. We should start by noticing the physiological needs of our students. Are they fed? (Unfortunately, this is not given in times of crisis) Do they feel cold? Do they sleep well? Are they tired? Some of my classes start at 15.00 right after the end of the last Greek school period. My students are both tired and hungry. I allow food and drink in the classroom as well as a 20-minute break from their tiring day during which we can casually discuss about anything they want.

It is vital that our students are treated as if they were members of our family. We need to pay attention to them individually so that they pay attention to us. The creation of a team based on respect and equality is the product of this attention. Our students need to feel “cuddled” while at the same time open to any collaboration in an environment they’d like to come back long after their studies are finished.

While in this safe and productive environment, the students self esteem cannot but improve. The students feel better when their needs are met, when the person sitting beside them, be it their teacher/educator/coach or their classmate has understood what they are made of and gives his best to see their improved version.

In my opinion, the key phrase here is “Pay attention”. Something we very often find ourselves telling our students but too rarely listen to ourselves when saying it. Pay attention, therefore, to our students’ needs. Be they physiological, esteem or safety and security needs. When we teach ourselves how to do so, our students’ self actualization needs (the most important of all needs in my opinion) will come knocking on our door. And this is when we will realize that our job as a coach has finally started. When all other needs are met it is high time we did what we have studied for but rarely practiced and that is coach a student to reach the highest of his abilities

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- Which of the messages that should be conveyed by the teacher to the learners would you say are conveyed by you in your own teaching context?

The first message Marlow says should be conveyed by the teacher is the message of invitation. In my C2 level class I currently have 4 students. This wasn’t so when the school year started. To be exact, in the first lesson I had 15 students in my tiny classroom. In the first lesson of the school year I always tell my students the same things. I make an analytical presentation of what I am going to teach in the academic year. I specifically stress the difficulty of the level. At the end of the presentation I ask them why they came to attend this class. The students answer giving different reasons why they have come to attend. Many times the reasons include their parents’ wants and needs. Then, I take the students outside the class and tell them to look over the door where I’ve hanged a banner that writes “Your choice”. I don’t tell them anything else and goodbye them. The next time I have a lesson with the same class, the number of the students entering the class is always significantly lower than it was the first time. I know that a practice as such may not be welcome in every language school and completely impractical in a public one. But what it does is create an environment in which I can always welcome my students and meet their needs. Make them feel that they are part of what’s going on and their presence is what makes this class a reality. Without them, I, their teacher/educator/coach would be completely useless.

Because of this welcome and the whole procedure of the first class, the students are given “value”. I make sure my students understand how important they are for this class. This is especially apparent at times of exams. Whenever I have students that maybe weaker than others in the class, the best ones always chip in with their thoughts and are urged to tutor the ones in need. This significantly adds to their “value” and at the same time bonds the students.

In this very high C2 language level mistakes are unavoidable. Students need to understand from the very beginning that they cannot be flawless. Once in a while I get a student who believes I must always be right and so must he. Though this is mostly a personality trait and cannot easily be “corrected” I try very hard to make my students understand “I am not God”. I am not even there to “teach” them. I am there to facilitate the procedure of their learning, what they are supposed to know for whatever reason they are supposed to know it. And when they finally get this, they have already understood they can count on me.

Many years ago, in order to facilitate the procedure of my students’ learning more and in an easier way I ventured to practice to Differentiated Instruction. More often than not I give my students the opportunity to Skype with students whose mother language is English or to Twit and follow their favorite actor or singer, to blog their favorite YouTube videos and play Scrabble, Hangman or chess with another English speaking student at the other end of the world. This introduces them and me (as in this procedure I see myself as a learner as well –it is truly amazing what someone can learn about the internet world from a young man or woman) to new things new opportunities and opens a window to a world beyond our imagination.

This give and take of information, where I present something to my students and they come back with something new they’ve found about it -I may or may not have heard of, creates an environment of continuous evaluation. Teaching/ Educating/Coaching is all about rethinking yourself and your practices. Your students can be of enormous help in this process.

- To what extent would you share Olson’s list of the ways in which people feel “wounded by school”? First refer to your own personal experience as student. Then refer to your own practices as teacher and member of the broader school system.

I had the worst time of my life as a high-school student in a Greek high school in the early nineties. While I had selected to attend the school because of its, then, excellent reputation, I found myself in unfriendly environment full of teachers who were not even interested to know my name and stapled photos of their students in their semester reports for fear of giving the wrong mark to the wrong person. It was the time of super schools and the one I was attending at the time was no different, a high school that hosted more than 3,000 students and employed more than 100 teachers. Still to this day I cannot understand how these “teachers” allowed themselves to practice the “teaching” they did. On an average day, me and my friends would feel just average. No need to press ourselves to learn anything or even attend the so-called lesson, during which most of the times, a teacher entered the class wrote endless notes on the blackboard and left the classroom 45 minutes later. The fact that we were present was of no importance as we were never asked to answer anything. At the end of each semester the parents met the teachers only to find out the teacher had no idea who the student they were asked about was. Once I finished this “school” that made me feel stupid every step of the way and rewarded me with a final mark, I’m not even sure was even mine, I vowed to do something in my life in the direction of correcting this ridiculous situation.

Many times and for many years now I have tried hard to show my students they deserve the best there is. They should not compromise if their inner voice is telling them something is wrong. I try to make my students feel unique in many ways and never categorize them as “smart” or “dump”. I don’t even give them tests or any written marks. Every once in a while I get the student who feels the only thing he should do is give the correct answer and get on with it. Even then I try to show him that there is more to learning than giving the right answer. And more often than not it is the wrong answer the one that can effectively answer the question of my presence in the room.