Have you ever used one of those ballpoint pens that can write in four different colours? It’s like having four different pens in one, which is very useful if you need a splash of colour. You can only use one colour at a time, but you can switch between them instantly. Teachers are bit like those pens. They do many different jobs in the classroom, switching between them from moment to moment and often without having to think too hard about it.
In the space of 10 minutes you might go from classroom manager to motivator, to referee, to giving feedback, to assessing, because that’s what is needed to support your students’ learning. Balancing these different roles is tough, and we need to try to be performing the right role at the right time in order to be successful as educators.
Thinking metaphorically
The idea of the teacher as a multicoloured pen is of course a metaphor, and there are lots of metaphors to describe what teachers do. A famous one is the idea of the teacher as a gardener, nurturing plants as they grow and develop – this is the origin of the word ‘kindergarten’.
Each metaphor reveals something unique about the roles that teachers play in their classrooms. Some metaphors, however, are more ideal than others – they all have a grain of truth to them, but we want to choose the images of teaching that create successful learners, and we also want to understand the best way of performing those roles so that our students thrive.
That’s where I can help!
In my webinar, I spoke about some of the most useful metaphors we have for teaching. In particular, I introduced you to a metaphor for teaching that is ideal for English teachers in the 21st century, based around the roles of actor and director in film and theatre. Many of the most prevalent images of teaching are based on traditional face-to-face classroom teaching, and they are prevalent because they have been relevant for a long time. But with digital technology and the pandemic changing the way that teachers work, we need new ways of thinking about teaching roles that help us to navigate new ways of teaching.
We looked at what this new metaphor tells us about the things that teachers should aim to do, and also what it tells us about the things that students should be aiming to do. We saw how it relates to the activities in the books that you use with your learners, using examples from Super Minds Second Edition. We also saw what it suggests about the way that we manage digital teaching, whether that’s teaching lessons on Zoom, or simply asking learners to complete their homework online.
Watch the webinar
Keen to find out more? Watch the recording!
The Super Skills webinar series
Matt’s is one of three webinars in our Super Skills series, for teachers of young learners. You can also explore:
Using CLIL to help primary students think and learn in English
with Kay Bentley
This talk about Super Minds Second Edition focuses on the Think and Learn CLIL pages. What’s new, what’s updated and what teachers can rediscover in the materials are addressed. In particular, the rationale for ‘Big Questions’ and how students develop critical and creative thinking through subject learning. Teachers can also discover cross-curricular links and examples of pluriliteracy in the presentation of subject content.
How to champion young learners on their learning journey: 5 things to know about developing thinking skills in ELT
on 27th April, with Herbert Puchta
Herbert will look at the latest research from the new science of learning, into how children learn and what teachers can do to facilitate their students’ learning journey. He will then discuss life skills and why it is a good idea to develop them in young learners from the outset. Herbert will discuss five things to know about developing thinking skills with children, and finally he will present a relevant range of practical ideas from Super Minds Second Edition.
Find out more about Super Minds Second Edition, our new course that takes young learners on an adventure, here.