Job Discussion Forums

Teacher Lindsay · Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 393 Location: Luxian, Sichuan

At "my" school, students remain in one classroom all day (everyday) and teachers move from room to room.

Of "my" 22 classrooms, 4 have small stools at the teacher's desk. I'm guessing that the majority of classrooms (100+) lack a teacher's seat.

I never sit when conducting a lesson so the lack of chairs does not bother me.

For me, it's a strange sight to see the Chinese teachers moving from room to room carrying their chairs with them. I have seen a few of them carry their chairs back to their apartments so I guess they must be personal property.

Do you ever sit while teaching?

Cheers

basiltherat · Joined: 04 Oct 2003 Posts: 952

Mostly stand (99% of time) but sometimes lean against a table.

Wander and mostly sit during tests
basil

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

Stand & wander around the room

Sometimes I sit on the teacher's table, which I've heard is a no-no in Japan, but it's perfectly OK at my school.

d

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

I'd say about 50-50.

Clancy · Joined: 23 Apr 2004 Posts: 162

My feet are killing me!

What do you think I do for 26 periods?

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

I stand 95% of the time, it does get tiring, especially if they are writing a test and I start to get bored. I could find a seat somewhere, but something is telling me what they'd do if I wasn't watching them. I've got one small class where I can sit down with them to teach.

foster · Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 485 Location: Honkers, SARS

When instructing, I am standing. During tests and composition lessons, I sit.

Does anyone teach while sitting? I would think that would be tough! I stand to make sure I can see all their lovely, sleeping faces! Rolling Eyes

Shaman · Joined: 06 Apr 2003 Posts: 446 Location: Hammertown

Geez, and I thought this was a thread about peeing... Razz

All smartassery aside, I'd say it depends on the situation. I stand when I need to use the whiteboard (eg. grammar), or if I need to stretch my legs I'll roam around a bit. Check out my students' writing and such. If it's conversation or reading, I'll grow roots.

Shaman

Gnocchiman · Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 68 Location: Limbo

When I first started teaching I was told that "a good teacher never sits." Then, years later, I was in a position where I was responsible for evaluating teachers. I can't tell you how much it drove me nuts to watch the "enthusiastic" teachers flit around here and there, never resting-always there to jump on any error-"help" with every single mistake-always performing. Then there were the teachers who taught their lessons, walked around the room a bit, sat for a while-giving students the time to sort out the main points of the lesson in their heads-got up-calmly walked around the room giving help when asked-sat down-stood up later to address certain errors he/she had heard while listening to the class, etc...
It became obvious to me that the atmosphere in the "sitting teachers'" classrooms was much more condusive to learning than in the "energetic-I'm never gonna sit down-teachers'" classrooms. It changed my approach to teaching and I can say that now I listen better, my students are more comfortable and so are my feet! Very Happy

Victoria · Joined: 02 May 2004 Posts: 137

i seat when i P

Joachim · Joined: 01 Oct 2003 Posts: 311 Location: Brighton, UK

I always thought that a good teacher actively monitors and never sits, until I did my CELTA - one of my trainers never once stood up while teaching, made a point of placing her chair strategically in the middle of the board, and was still a very effective teacher.

I think it depends on the class, with younger of less confident students I am more mobile, but with teenagers I tend to stay seated most of the time, otherwise they find it unnerving...

yaramaz · Posted: Fri May 07, 2004 5:39 am Post subject:

I teach high school, my classes are really small (10-20 students, amazing for a Turkish high school), and I usually sit- either on the desk so I can get up more easily for boardwork, or in the chair if we are doing a reading or listening exercise. I stand when there is boardwork to do, and also at the beginnig of each lesson when I circulate to make sure everyone actually brought their books and have bothered to get them out and open them to the correct page (its amazing how many will simply not getthem out of their bags, and if they do, not crack them open until I'm standing over them).

I dont think I'd be a better teacher if I stood all day. I did it last year in the primary school because if I sat then the 10 year olds would go wild. I was exhausted at the end of the day from running around so much. I refuse to do it again this year.

Wolf · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 1245 Location: Middle Earth

I teach in lecture sytle classrooms. I stand for the most part. During speaking evaluations the students stand and I sit and take notes. From time to time I give the students activities where they have to stand up as well. The "teacher on an elevated platform/students seated below" format isn't very helpful in creating a conversational atmosphere. But there are no conference/seminar style rooms for us to use.

At my conversatin school jobs in Japan everone sat around a table. There wasn't enough room in the cubicle-classrooms to move around.

gugelhupf · Joined: 24 Jan 2004 Posts: 575 Location: Jabotabek

For me it depends on the size of the group/room and type of teaching. For small (<6) groups I sit unless I need to use the board or OHP. I am very tall and quite big and this can be a bit intimidating in a small group setting - although it is damn useful at times for discipline.

In a large group/room I very rarely sit and, according to our internal teaching quality gestapo, sitting on the edge of a desk is rude in some cultures at to be avoided.

latefordinner · Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 973

Depends on the group. I've taught kindies where a huge foreign devil is soooo scary for the little ones, so I sat on a 5 year old sized chair just as they did and talked at their physical level. Worked wonders for their comfort level. Now I'm teaching kids aged 10 to 15, and spending a lot of time on my feet. I'm very into physical comedy with this age group. Sometimes I rest by taking off my tie and putting it around the collar of a student and making him/her teacher for 5 minutes. Then I pretend to be the student and sit and observe.