“A true teacher is one who, keeping the
past alive,
is also able to understand the present.”
–Confucius
If Confucius was right when he said
that a true teacher utilizes the past as a guide to the present, then you, as
an aspiring English teacher, must be able to do the same. As an English lover,
you have an innate linguistic forte; as an aspiring teacher, you have a natural
need to instruct your future students as effectively as you can. In order to
develop a powerful pedagogy, you must explore two topics you won’t learn about
in your college teacher-preparation curriculum: rhetoric (which is the art of
communication) and history (in both ancient and recent times).
Communication
First, in order to become an
influential teacher, you must understand and experiment with the art of
communication, rhetoric. Rhetoric focuses on different components of
correspondence, such as the occasion for speaking, the organization of a piece,
the audience’s values, and the speaker’s reputation. It also considers figures
of speech, non-verbal signals, and different mediums of transmition. Being
aware of these elements of speech will enable you to make wise decisions when
you teach.
We’ve all been trapped in a class where a
teacher’s monotonous oratory, uninteresting body language, under-simplified
sentences or overcomplicated words beg students to stop listening, and where the
teacher is unaware that he or she is making rhetorically poor decisions. To
avoid poor teaching like this, you should consider learning about rhetorical
concepts that will give you the power to successfully engage your students and
please their parents.
Consider the following examples: the
first illustrates an English teacher’s daily interaction with students, the
second a parent-teacher dialogue.
Imagine the following conversation
between a teacher and her class of tenth graders. She is introducing the Macbeth unit, and while the young people
argue against the need to read, she pays special attention to the needs of her
audience to effectively combat a complaint.
The girl on the front row whines, “Mrs.
Richards, Shakespeare's language is sooo old.
None of us can understand it!" Before responding, Mrs. Richards
considers her audience: the majority of young students are uninterested
in reading and few have the patience to decode Shakespearean verse. She
responds with a touch of humor: "Well, Jane, have you ever heard the
phrase, 'tongue-tied,' or 'lie low,' or 'in a pickle'? How about 'dead as a
door-nail' or 'laughing stock'? Shakespeare made up these and many more phrases
that we use all the time. So you understand more than you think!" Jane
feels hope that she actually will
be able to comprehend the age-old language.
Mrs. Richards also knows that her
students struggle with personal issues just like the characters in Macbeth. “Plus,” she continues,
“Shakespeare was the world's greatest story-teller! If you figure out
why one of his characters acts they way he or she does, you’ll begin to
understand human nature in general, which then will help you understand
yourselves better.”
In
this example, Mrs. Richards makes wise rhetorical decisions. She takes her
audience into account as she explains the importance of studying Shakespeare.
She gains the children’s approval by making them laugh and then peaks their
interest by explaining that Shakespeare’s characters can help the students
discover more about themselves. She also uses vocabulary that is not
condescending but easy-to-understand. Like Mrs. Richards does in this example,
considering the audience is one example of rheotric’s usefulness in teaching
situations.
Like
classroom discussions, dealing with parents also requires intelligent interaction.
Email is an increasingly popular medium for conversations between parents and
teachers. The following is an example of written communication:
Mrs.
Nelson needs to inform a mother about her son’s frequent absences and failing
grades. In an email, Mrs. Nelson uses correct grammar, organizes her message
well, and employs just the right words to positively affect the mother’s
emotions (making the message sound a little more pleasing). She writes:
Hello
Mrs. Tucker,
I
have the pleasure of teaching your son, James, in my English class. He is very
respectful and kind to other students. Unfortunately, I am aware of
frequent absences and unexplained late work from him. Like you, I care for the
well being of your son. Literacy will be an essential skill throughout his
life, and I worry that he is not taking full advantage of the opportunity to
learn it now.
In
order to discuss with him the necessity of attending class regularly and
completing the homework assignments, I would appreciate an in-person conference
with both of you, next Thursday afternoon at 4 pm. Please let me know whether
this time works for you.
Thank
you,
Mrs.
Nelson
Notice that positive sounding words like,
“pleasure,” “well-being,” “appreciate,” and “please” have a favorable effect on
the emotions. Using words to create emotion in the listener is called “pathos.”
You can use pathos to your advantage, just like Mrs. Nelson did to help the
mother stay positive about her son’s precarious predicament.
As Confucius said, true teachers must
understand the present moment; careful rhetoric will allow you to better
understand the present. Now that we’ve looked at a few examples, you can see
that conscientious communication in the moment it is needed (either in or
outside the classroom) to enhance your effectiveness as a teacher.
History
Next, understanding history will be as
useful as understanding rhetoric. Confucius said that a true teacher should
“keep the past alive.” What can an English teacher do to bring history to
life? For our purposes we will not
analyze the history of literature nor of the English language, but rather the
benefits of building on past teaching methods. For example, pedagogy practices
from antiquity and from the twentieth century are building blocks for future
teachers.
First, as an English teacher you can base
new ideas on old teaching methods. One scholar explains that in antiquity,
language arts education was valued above many other subjects: “The Greeks, and
especially the Athenians, laid the greatest stress on reading well” (Cubberly 30).
With the goal of learning to read well, Athenian pupils memorized and recited many
classic works like Homer and Aesop, paying particular attention to accentuation
and emotion. Often, boys were asked to rework a piece of literature to make it
their own, memorize their composition, and then perform it. This way they
learned to read, write, and perform simultaneously (31). By observing,
mimicking, and improving upon these methods from the distant past (such as
memorizing and rewriting classic pieces, which is not practiced in contemporary
classrooms) you can enhance the potency of your pedagogy.
Likewise, lessons from recent
English-teaching history shed light on instruction improvement. English as a
school subject did not emerge until the 1880s, and over the years the
curriculum underwent countless transformations (Applebee
ix). One example of a curriculum alteration was part of the progressive
movement in the early 1900s. John Dewey, a leader of this movement, called for
“the emancipation of the high school from the college program in English” (48). He and his supporters believed that
high school English classes were so oriented toward college preparation that
they erroneously created a “cultural elite” and taught nothing about “the
problems of living together” in a community (48). In other words, English
classes only benefitted college-bound students, but ignored those who would not
go on to higher learning. Today, some
teachers focus too much on the college entrance exams, but by knowing about past
improvement efforts such as the progressive philosophy you can carefully craft
your lesson plans to teach to prepare students to succeed in the community and
not only in college.
Conclusion
So,
if you want to be the best teacher you can be, take a longer look into
communication and history. Learning about rhetoric will empower you to make
wise decisions when speaking to large groups and writing to individuals, or
vice versa. And the more you learn the ancient and recent history of teaching
the more innovative and focused your pedagogy will be. This way you can apply
the past and understand the present, and become a true teacher.
Works Cited
Applebee, Arthur N. Tradition and Reform
in the Teaching of English: A History. Ed. NCTE Editorial Board. New York:
Eric, 1974. Web.
Cubberley, Ellwood Patterson. The
History of Education: Educational Practice and Progress Considered as a Phase
of the Development and Spread of Western Civilization. Houghton Mifflin,
1920. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.
Confucius.
"The Internet Classics Archive | The Analects by Confucius." The
Internet Classics Archive | The Analects by Confucius. 2009. Web. 15 Dec.
2014.
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