Need advice for teaching teens and young adults

[cancze]

Hello all:

Do any of you have any advice or guidance on how to succesfully connect and work with the teens and early 20s age groups of students?

I've been teaching for two years and I generally get along alright with students from around 25 years old and above, but connecting with younger ones has been a problem that I'm having a lot of trouble overcoming. Its cost me some classes and I don't want it to be a problem in the upcoming academic year.

I have been told that my approach and mind set is too academic for that age group and that I should be more dynamic. I try to balance fun with learning, I do play some games to keep boredom from setting in, but I've got the good sense to know that it can't be all fun and games all the time. Genuine work has to come into it sometime. I believe its good for the teacher to be friendly and fun, but they must also clearly be a leader for the class.

When I think about it, most of my friends are in their 30s or above, have completed post secondary education and hold jobs that expect a lot from them. I don't have a lot of experience being around teens and younger adults and I don't have many happy memeories of those years from my own life.

Despite that, I want to be able to succesfully work with younger students when I'm asked to.

Do any of you have any insights or advice on what works really well for these groups? Not just methodology, but how I can present myself as a person to them so that they won't go running to my boss telling them I'm terrible and that they want a new teacher?

I'm really sick of this limitation and don't want it to be a thorn in my side in upcoming academic years.

Thanks in advance

[emce]

Hi there, I do have few ideas for you however I just wanted to ask what you mean by it has "cost you the class" do you mean that the learning wasn't effective?

[Showem]

I believe its good for the teacher to be friendly and fun, but they must also clearly be a leader for the class.

Depends on what you mean by "leader". If you mean, you should be the one to control the class, the one who dictates what is learnt and what isn't, the one who is always the center of attention, I'd totally disagree with you.

You are teaching adults, or soon-to-be adults. They deserve your respect as much as you deserve theirs. They have life stories that are probably far more interesting than some prescribed text in a book. Use this, ask their opinions on things, get them speaking and sharing their experiences. Honestly, I don't see why you would treat them any different than anyone over 25.

You aren't the leader, you should be the facillitator. You help them learn, you don't make them learn.

[cancze]

Hi there, I do have few ideas for you however I just wanted to ask what you mean by it has "cost you the class" do you mean that the learning wasn't effective?

What I mean is that I actually have the class taken from me and its given to a different teacher. Usually I only find out about a problem with a class when my boss tells me the class is no longer mine.

I've seldom gotten the chance to correct whatever the problem might have been and seldom gotten any sort of acceptable explanation of the full nature of the problem or how to avoid it in the future.

[cancze]

I believe its good for the teacher to be friendly and fun, but they must also clearly be a leader for the class.

Depends on what you mean by "leader". If you mean, you should be the one to control the class, the one who dictates what is learnt and what isn't, the one who is always the center of attention, I'd totally disagree with you.

You are teaching adults, or soon-to-be adults. They deserve your respect as much as you deserve theirs. They have life stories that are probably far more interesting than some prescribed text in a book. Use this, ask their opinions on things, get them speaking and sharing their experiences. Honestly, I don't see why you would treat them any different than anyone over 25.

You aren't the leader, you should be the facillitator. You help them learn, you don't make them learn.

Well, I'm certainly no dictator in class and I make every effort to make my classes student centred. I do give students every opportunity to talk about themselves, I don't bore them with stories about me. A big problem is just getting some of them to talk at all.

For the ones who really want to be there and really want to learn, getting them to talk and participate is not an issue. Its the ones that don't want to be there; their boss or parents sent them and you can tell they're thinking of about 101 other things they'd rather be doing. They can really make it hell for more dedicated students when it comes to pair and group work.

Its often these students who don't want to be there that do the complaining. They resent it if I ask even the slightest bit of effort from them in class, they retain very little of what I teach because they don't take notes and are less than particapatory in class then say its my fault somehow to my boss.

Both schools I've worked for have seen the money first when students complain rather than properly investigating the complaints and have taken the classes away from me rather than letting me be part of the solution to the problem if there is a legitimate problem to be solved at all.

I've never had such problems with students who were in their mid 20s and up, it only seems to happen with the teens and early 20 crowds.

I respect all of my students, some of the younger ones just can't seem to see that. I know those years are a difficult stage in life, so I'm very careful not to play the heavy with them, yet somehow I still seem to end up being a target for whatever angst might be in them.

I just really want to be able to connect with this group of people more effectively than I've been able to so far.

[emce]

wow, it really seems to me that you are having a hard time. From your posts I can see that you are very reflective which is a good sign.

I know this is probably an irritating question but have you talked to your "boss" about needing some feedback or critique to improve your teaching methods?
Hasn't your boss ever suggested sitting in on your classes to see what it is exactly that is ineffective?
If not perhaps it would be a good idea for someone to observe your teaching, even if it does feel a little bit weird or damage your pride (I know that I would find it tough!). Perhaps you could ask one of your colleagues if you are not comfortable asking your boss?

I also wanted to know what subjects you are talking about. This is an ESL forum however I didn't want to assume so.

Basically from your posts it sounds to me that you are using methods that you have always used however for this particular demographic these methods do not work. Do you think at all that it is more of a behavioural issue with the students than with your teaching style? If this is the case then we could all pour advice onto you about different ways to teach (as in what types of activities/ techniques to use etc.) however if the students have behavioural issues then this needs to be tackled first. From my own experience and that of my collegues I can assure you that even the best planned lesson, with relevant and authentic material will never ever work if you cannot control the students.