Assistant teacher course/Taking the view of the teacher

Taking the view of the teacher

Acceptance test

Activity:	lecture, group work
Group size:	less than 15
Preparation:	none
Instructors:	1-2
Duration:	TBD

This phase of the course aims to make the participants better understand the view of a teacher.

For the following event the course instructors should be prepared to send in participants from another group with the task to hold a short lecture in front of one group while the group will send participants to the other group, one after the other.

The participants should be given about 30 minutes for the preparation of their theater performance. The preparation should contain one or two dry runs with a course instructor as the lecturer. To increase seriousness the course instructors could make remarks that this was an acceptance test, merely failing to mention that there was almost no way to actually fail the test. (Theoretically unsuitable candidates could be removed from the course at any time, the acceptance test would be merely a prominent occasion)

To understand the view of a teacher in front of a very inattentive class it helps to actually make the observation yourself. Please prepare a theater performance of a very inattentive class.
Your performance should be able to react to the behavior of the teacher: If the teacher calls the class to order it calms down — for a few seconds.
You can nominate some of you who decide how to continue and give secret signs to the others, which are unknown to the lecturer. The goal is to give the lecturer an exaggerated display of a class with the attention span of a grasshopper, not to anger the lecturer.

The lecturers should be given tasks that require writing on a board, talking for several minutes and developing a dialog with the class. The recommended duration is five to seven minutes for each lecturer and not more than 95 minutes for the whole event. To make the task more challenging for the lecturer the participants should wear name badges with fictional names, so even known participants have to be addressed with the name on the badge, not the actual name.

Handouts:

Behavior patterns

Activity:	lecture, group work
Group size:	unlimited
Preparation:	none
Instructors:	1
Duration:	?

Behavior patterns of teachers

The course instructors can begin by showing some typical teacher strategies and behaviors and asking the participants to give their view what a behavior is meant to accomplish and where it succeeds or where it fails.

ToDo: Compile a list of patterns course instructors can bring into the following discussion

It is an exaggeration to categorize every behavior pattern as a pedagogical pattern or anti-pattern so the participants should be asked to compile a list of behavior patterns they know and to mention the advantages or disadvantages of each pattern from the point of view of the teacher. The participants should also give each pattern a grade, depending on how successful the pattern is and describe the traits or skills that make the pattern succeed, if the pattern is likely to work for one teacher but not necessarily for another teacher.

During the following discussion participants can be asked to enact their patterns occasionally. This can increase understanding and involvement of the other participants and can give the unit a more relaxed atmosphere.

Handouts:

Behavior patterns of teachers

Behavior patterns of pupils

What behavior patterns do pupils show and how do teachers react to those behavior patterns?
What difference can assistant teachers make?

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