A GOOD TEACHER IS LIKE A CANDLE - it consumes itself to light the way for others.

[bianca]

hi,

A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for others. This statement refers to teachers who do their job (of teaching) with passion and love.


Madox

I love my job, but I wouldn't for the world of me accept it to consume me. Teaching with passion and love gives me the energy and inspiration I need to grow as an individual - and with me, my students will do that, too. The day I feel it is otherwise, I quit.

[Mad-ox]

I love my job, but I wouldn't for the world of me accept it to consume me. Teaching with passion and love gives me the energy and inspiration I need to grow as an individual - and with me, my students will do that, too. The day I feel it is otherwise, I quit.

To consume yourself does not mean to destroy yourself but to work and improve yourself. The 'job' of a candle is to consume itself, in other words to work for others. Your job as a teacher is to keep ''the light of the candle lit'' as much as possible, as long as possible. And the best way to develope our knowledge, our vocabulary, our language skills ( reading, listening, writing, speaking ) is to teach others. Since by teaching others you also teach yourself. When you teach, in fact, you revise/repete the subject matter. REPETITION IS THE MOTHER OF SKILL! A good teacher must devote him/herself to his/her job entirely.


Madox

[bianca]

To consume yourself does not mean to destroy yourself but to work and improve yourself. The 'job' of a candle is to consume itself, in other words to work for others. Your job as a teacher is to keep ''the light of the candle lit'' as much as possible, as long as possible. And the best way to develope our knowledge, our vocabulary, our language skills ( reading, listening, writing, speaking ) is to teach others. Since by teaching others you also teach yourself. When you teach, in fact, you revise/repete the subject matter. REPETITION IS THE MOTHER OF SKILL! A good teacher must devote him/herself to his/her job entirely.


Madox

Well, in theory you're right. In practice, even the most passionate teacher will cease to burn his candle unless there are other issues to keep him going. And as for repetition being the mother of skill, this is totally right to some extent, but it is hardly the skill that I need to improve myself. I need new dimensions, new approaches, see things in a different 'light'.

[beascarpetta]

I beg to disagree , because I do not think Mad-ox's "job description" allows for a family, a partner , simply a life beyond that of teaching.
I do bow to all teachers who devote their entire lives to teaching and to their students , but as bianca, bless her , very aptly said
the moment I feel my candle being burnt at both ends, I'll kiss my students goodbye.
I think that you can only help your students along their way if you allow yourself to sit back,take a breath and refocus.

[Mad-ox]

And as for repetition being the mother of skill, this is totally right to some extent, but it is hardly the skill that I need to improve myself. I need new dimensions, new approaches, see things in a different 'light'.

By repetition you can also get "new dimensions, new approaches". In a classroom, among students, a teacher can always learn something from the students. Since teachers are not gods but human beings, so they are not perfect. ( they can also learn from their students ) When you repeat things, at a certain time you got bored with the repetition and consequently you start searching for "new dimensions". As far as repetition concerns, we ( by we I understand language teachers ) do not have to forget the REPETITION has always played a part in language learning. One kind of repetition is of vital importance in language learning, and that is the repetition of encounters with language. It is the repetition which really help fix things in the mind. In other words, if learners see or hear some language once, they might forget it quite quickly. The more the learners repeat the new language, the better chance they have of remembering it.

By devotion I do not understand to give up your family life, your friends but simply do your job with love: when you work=love your job, love your students, love your colleagues, love the books, love everything that is connected with it; and when you are at home love your family, love your friends, love your enemies. ( But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great. ) A teacher has a very huge responibility as far as the students' personality concerns. A language teaching is not just about teaching language, it is also about helping students to develop themselves as people. I such methodologies the experience of the student is what counts and the development of their personality and the encouragement of positive feelings are seen to be as important as their learning of a language.That is why for teachers school must be considered as a second home(place); the teacher playes the role of parents whilst the students are the teachers' children. It must be created a harmony, otherwise, by force, there is no success!!!!!!






Madox

[Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim]

Admittedly repetition plays an important role in learning but as a memory technique (which is a learning technique) it is old fashioned and short-term. Don't you think so?

[Mad-ox]

Admittedly repetition plays an important role in learning but as a memory technique (which is a learning technique) it is old fashioned and short-term. Don't you think so?

It was only a talk about repetition. I did not mention the fact the repetition is the only one major technique for language learning. Unfortunately, we as non-native speakers have to learn list of vocabulary in order to use the new language and this can be done by repetition (of course this does not mean that you have to take a list of words and learn them by heart -by repetition- but these word can be used in a great variety of activities.) Obviously, there are many other teaching/learning techniques: perhaps the most important ones are the communicative activities, such as information gap, the nature of communication, the communication continuum, other techniques: introducing the new language, practice, lead-in, task-based learning, humanistic approaches, acqustion and learning, cognitivism, self-directed learning, elicitation, explanation, accurate reproductin, immediate creativity, discovery techniques, oral practices, four-phase drills, mixed question and answer drills, games, simulation and role play and so on..............Everything depends on what level we teach( easystarts, beginner, elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper-intemediate, advanced, proficiency)
As a conclusion, repetition will never be old-fashioned!
Madox

[Mad-ox]

A good teacher is fair to all his/her students!

Madox

[beascarpetta]

A teacher has a very huge responibility as far as the students' personality concerns. A language teaching is not just about teaching language, it is also about helping students to develop themselves as people.

I think that some teachers at one point reach a stage when they simply cannot be bothered with that huge responsibility any longer and thus even become potentially dangerous.
Still , I think the concept you so aptly and valiantly defend is desperately in need of new recruits.
Have you ever thought about the students' atitudes teachers are faced with today?
Nowadays teachers more often than not do not leave the staff room to teach but to do battle.
It probably all depends on where you teach ,what level and which social stratum.

[Mad-ox]

I think that some teachers at one point reach a stage when they simply cannot be bothered with that huge responsibility any longer and thus even become potentially dangerous.
Still , I think the concept you so aptly and valiantly defend is desperately in need of new recruits.
Have you ever thought about the students' atitudes teachers are faced with today?
Nowadays teachers more often than not do not leave the staff room to teach but to do battle.
It probably all depends on where you teach ,what level and which social stratum.

I totally agree with you! It seems that I was misunderstood. What I want to do ( via this topic ) is to find out what or who a good teacher is. I'm very conscious about the fact that most of the time teachers have to face not with discipline students but with "warriors in a battlefield". I myself have to face daily with disruptive behaviour in the school where I teach. I have students who swear, spit, destroy benches during classes. In this cases, the easiest way is to put the blame on them. In my opinion, teachers have their own fault in these cases.( perhaps, here, we should discuss/describe a BAD TEACHER ) We also have to find out their( the students' ) goals in life because the job of teaching does not mean that I go in the classroom and teach my lesson but to interact with them. As an interactivity to be successful, it must creat a kind of relationship between the T-S. However, my idea was the following: to find out ways of avoiding disruptive behaviour. For this I thought to define a GOOD TEACHER. Unfortunately, my topic was accepted with polemic in the negative sense and not in constructive criticism. Obviously, there are no perfect teachers ( nobody is perfect except for the ONE who was born on Christmas day! ) but at least through discusson , we could improve our methods of teaching!


Madox