Teachers: Full Time Performers

 

Teachers: Full Time Performers

Apart from all the problems on our minds like whether we have enough skills or knowledge to teach, one of the most difficult parts of teaching is what I call "being on the stage".  That is, when we think about singers or performers, they are on the stage for a limited time and day. Let's think about world famous singers who go on tours for 2 to 3 months. They are on the stage in front of millions of people singing and trying not to fail but this lasts for a couple of months at most with some breaks in between as well. As teachers, in our daily routines, we are always under the spotlights in front of our students. Let's think about a typical day in an English teacher's life. You are going to teach Perfect Simple and Past Simple. You start out by some warming up activities where you ask students some questions like their experiences abroad. When you ask, there is a possibility of silence from the audience, your students. What do you do? In order not to screw it up, you need to consider something at that very moment and decide to do something. What if you say something silly, and silence continues or worse students look at you judging your speaking, acting or movements? As a teacher, we can feel that. Let's say you got over it by asking more questions and luckily students gave some answers and you moved on now to ask some concept checking questions to have the students understand the meaning of perfect tense again tension increases since you expect answer from students. I know that I am telling this like a horror story but it is true, we go through this every single day. Once the teaching is over, sometimes you can also reflect on it by having some negative thoughts like "I shouldn't have said that" or "I should have done that activity" and so on and so forth. If we come to the main point, being on the stage all the time requires lots of energy, confidence and knowledge. As a teacher, from time to time, I feel like my somebody drained all my body's energy. Let's get it right, it is normal to feel like that considering what we do every day. Unconsciously, I can feel that I sometimes feel awkward, less confident and the fear of doing things wrong. I think this is part of our job and we need to accept that and move on (said the teacher of English without being able to do it).