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A picture of me painted by a student
Some students and sometimes some classes are somehow difficult. You may not catch the sparkle at first or even later. You may find yourselves dealing with unkind behaviours and thoughtless words of the students in the middle of a present perfect exercise, then this may become the hardest time ever. The age of the students does not change the situation. They want to have fun and become the winner if they are arguing with you. What you should do first is not to lose your temper and stay calm. Accepting can turn everything into positive and that can help you to gain the student forever. Why?
Why not? Isn’t being a teacher like acting? You have to change your role many times. When it comes to a difficult student who always rolls up opposition, you should act like meditating and accept the student for who he / she is. Focus on the good points of that person and make him / her feel this. Believe in the magic of love and love your students. If they can really feel it, they can catch the sparkle, too…
It is especially harder when it happens with teenagers and young adults. They don’t want to accept anything and even if they are wrong, they keep behaving same way as they think they will feel embarrased in front of their peers if they accept the situation. In such moments, I usually prefer warning the class in general first. If that doesn’t work, I look at the eyes of student in the center of attention and make a general warning again. If this doesn’t work either, I ignore and have a ‘normal’ talk with the students out of the class in a friendly atmosphere. Once they know you work hard for them, even the most problematic student starts to appreciate your work.
Thanks for agreeing solmaz21. As you said eye contact is also very important. It can be much more effective than raising your voice. Once it works, a wordless communication starts between the teacher and the student.
Some students ‘connect’ with their teachers instantly, others require more time and effort. It is important to be patient and find that ‘sparkle’ eventually. However, it needs to work both ways. There is only so much a teacher can do. At some point the student has to make an effort to make the connection as well.
Thank you Dave,
As you said, the process is different for each student and even for each teacher. You are also right about the effort of the student has to make. If it is only the teacher who makes a push, it can fail.
[...] Catch the sparkle TAGS: back to school, dice activities for your class, dice and smiles, first day of the school, ice, ice breaker, ice breaker for the first day of the school, warmer, welcome back to school This entry was posted on Sunday, September 16th, 2012 at 23:30 and is filed under Activities – Worth a Try, All posts, Featured Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Leave a Reply Cevabı iptal etmek için tıklayın. [...]