Trying to
get back on track after a few weeks’ vacation with no rest and sickness. I
tried to gain IATEFL’S spirit once more by watching Sarah Mercer’s interesting
keynote speech at IATEFL Glasgow. The Conference memories went on passing in
front of me while watching her. Interesting memories!! You get the feeling that you hadn’t had enough of
the conference and you want to sip in more.
A. They develop positive relationships
B. They focus on positivity and growth
C. They nurture their own professional well-being
A) They
develop positive relationships
First she gave an introduction about the importance of
psychology or relationships, in other words. She believes this is the heart and
soul of teaching as teachers inspire magic.
Then she introduced a short TED Talk by Rita Pierson
referring to the importance of building good and trustable relationships
between teachers and students. Then she quoted Hattie’s (2009) “meta-analysis list
of 138 most influential factors on learning” where he placed “Teacher-Student
relationships” as no. 11 in the list. She believes that building relationships
with Students is the basis on which we build the learners’ willingness to
learn. Language Teaching is inherently social, it involves communication,
collaboration and requires socio-cultural competence.
Then she referred the audience to the British Council
study/research she worked on “Understanding Emotional and Social Intelligence
among English Language Teachers” https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/G211_ELTRA_Gkonou%20and%20Mercer%20paper_FINAL_web.pdf and shared her
findings: a) if you teach you are other-oriented person means you are
interested in people. b) Multilingual people are sensitive to interpersonal
connections and communication. She then drew the attention that what she is talking about is not new to many here, but she is bringing
it to the fore front for teachers to focus on and call Teacher Trainers to give
more attention to it.
Later on, after asking teachers to discuss the most
important qualities of teachers, she started speaking about the importance of
having an “Emotional Bank Account" (Covey). This can be filled by:
1. **Working on mutual trust
and respect.
You have to work on them seriously to earn
them
2. **Be empathetic
Seek to understand your students and
remind yourself how it is to be a learner. Share a bit about yourself with
them.
3. **Be responsive to
learner individuality
Have little personal conversations. This
is what she calls ‘pedagogical caring’.
4. **Peer-peer
relationships
Also teach your students the importance of
having good relationships among each other. How to speak in front of peers,
connect and know their names.
B) They focus on positivity and growth
We are the ones that
stand in our way of learning. There are two different kinds of Mindsets:
** Fixed Mindset
Attributes regarded as static or fixed
** Growth Mindset
I can develop, get better. I can
overcome problems
Both teachers and
students have such Mindsets and you as a teacher is the one who can help your
students think positively and get better with learning the language. It’s
important to know your potentials as well as those of your students. You can
push them forward. We can promote this through:
** Teacher as a role model
** Teacher Talk
** Strategies and pathways
Here comes the
importance of feedback. It should be informative, deserved and genuine. We need
to help students reduce anxiety and foster positive emotions.
We can keep
“Broaden-and-build theory” of Fredrickson in mind. This helps us
To
learn
To broaden horizons
To build
resources
To build more positive emotions
To be more creative
C) They nurture their own professional
and well-being
n When you get in class SMILE
n If you are frustrated, your students will be likewise
n If you are motivated, they will be so as well
n If you are happy at work, this will make you successful not
vice versa
n There is positive and negative stress. Use the positive one
to gain from
n Don’t over stretch yourself
n Set boundaries
n Stress Management is very important for Teachers
** Your physical condition
** Your mental condition
** Your emotional condition
If your body is in
good shape, your mind will follow
n Your well-being is a priority
n We need to become a little more teacher-centered in our
priorities and our professional well-being. It’s a necessity.
“Psychologically wise teachers know that for successful
language teaching:
n Psychology matters
n Relationships matter
n Positivity matters
n YOU matter!!
“Happy teachers make for happy Learners!!”
