Teacher Discussion Forums

We teachers put on a face in front of our students no matter how bad the situation outside the classroom is. When I'm having a bad day, I usually drop by the rest room to check my smile and tell myself that my students have nothing to do with how bad a I feel. Deep breath, open the door, nice sunny smile, "Good morning class!"

What do you do to make sure you have your teacher face on in class if you're having a bad day?

My jokes get more vicious. They like it.

Hi!
You are smart to check your expression before you go back into a challanging classroom situation. If you are able to change the situation for the better by not just reacting to it you are winning! When the students see you as the leader they will respect you for it, otherwise they will become the leaders in the class and you will be losing.Good luck to you. You may want to check out my new book which will literally walk you through these types of challanges. I used the metaphor of acting to write this book and I you will definitely be able to use many of my tips and techniques. Good luck to you. Carol Keeney
www.brandnewteacher.com

I have heard some teachers talk about the "teacher self" that they become when they are in the classroom, like it is someone different from themselves. I never understood what they were talking about and always equated it with the next thing they would say which was "you can't be friends with the students."

I realize now that there is a "professional" self that takes over when you are in the classroom that is sometimes a buffer between the class and yourself. A professional, I agree, should remember that her or his job requires the personal fortitude to make it through the tough days and still accomplish the teaching.

So what I do is just relax and remember that I have a job to do. But there are days when the stress of life is a little too much and I have to cut back a little bit on what I am going to accomplish that day and I am ok with that. I am no superman and its not in my contract that I be.

I always felt that there is an element of "acting" in teaching. That is, the persona I assume in front of my class is special for that circumstance. I am much more outgoing and lively in class than I am in real life. My students squeeze in their studies between family obligations and work schedules. If I were to lazily sit at the desk and look as tired as I am sometimes, I think they would fall asleep. (and I probably would too!) So just before I walk in the door, I put on my "teacher face" and I'm "on" for the period of the class. Sometimes when I relax in the teachers' room, someone asks if everything is okay because my natural relaxed face looks sad! I just put on my teacher face and ask if they like it better.

I've never been one to adopt a (too obviously) artificial voice or persona (this sometimes means I can't always be heard at the back of a large or noisy class, or perhaps speak a little too fast for every student to catch what I have said first time around)...then again, I don't ever go into a class looking too preoccupied or worried with things beyond the lesson itself.

Looking at this topic from another angle, what about the situation inside the classroom? That is, what do you guys do when a class (I'm talking supposedly motivated adults, not naughty adolescents) give you a hard time right from the start, for no good reason? In these kind of situations there is a limit to how much I am prepared to suck unpleasantness up, because the (sour-faced) student needs to know when their behaviour is of the sort that will elicit at least silence (that is, a pregnant pause) from the teacher...

As an example, I once presented a "difficult" intermediate going on advanced class with several apparently "similar" phrases (at least as far as translation equivalents would seem to indicate), some well-chosen authentic examples, and instructions to write several short independent dialogues (not just one) illustrating (what the students perceived to be) the differing uses of the phrases (in contexts they might have been in or be able to imagine)...not a great lesson from a purely teaching point of view, but could've been interesting, depending on the quality of their responses.

This class would drift in in dribs and drabs over ten or twenty minutes, and took so long over the task (having fun talking amongst themselves all the while about nothing in particular) that the bell went as I was moving to look over one of the few completed scripts. It consisted of one looong dialogue, inventive but with subtly incorrect usages (and quite a few basic mistakes below their level), like they hadn't paid the slightest attention to anything I'd presented (least of all, the instructions themselves).

I zipped thru it quickly and made a few simple indications where things were dodgy or seemed wrong to me, and handed it back quickly as they began to stand to leave. The woman who'd been doing the writing scowled and said very forcefully, 'You should EXPLAIN! Not just hand this to me!'.

Me: Yes, and I will, if you bring the sheet with you to our next class. There's no time now to give you more than an indication...see, I have another class waiting to come in...I thought you'd want at least an indication for now...so you can think about it at home...

Her: You should explain!

Me: (Smiling patiently) Yes, and I will, in the next class (repeat of above)...

Her: Hmmph! (Brushes past and out in a huff)

There are basically sometimes some classes that you soon realize don't deserve that smile or even a please or thank you. Either they leave, or you (and the next teacher then the next) leaves (and sooner rather than later)...the prospect of teaching such students certainly doesn't particularly fill one with joy.

Next time I meet such a class I will introduce them to irony, sarcasm, hell, even a bit of light invective.

Was reminded by this of the following:
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/v ... 3340#13340