Hiram, Georgia TESOL Online & Teaching English Jobs

Teacher bedside manner, as it were, requires good use of easily overlooked but fundamental human interactional skills. Eye contact, gesturing, and vocal presence direct the class. Gesturing in particular is often good in frequent use to supplement what is being said, and helps create greater understanding, while eye contact is a necessity for any time attention needs to be be focused either on the teacher or a specific student. Clarity, calm, confidence, and friendliness is key to all three. Likewise, for seating arrangements, clusters or horseshoes/circles are most ideal, but not necessarily great for oversized classes. This ties in to discipline, where awareness of student relationships and seating appropriately can prevent conflicts (and prevention is always preferable to letting things devolve). Students should mostly be allowed freedom to act as they need to during Engage and Activate activities, with teachers monitoring from a good distance (and lack of eye contact) and allow students to correct each other, while standing (albeit without one's back turned) to direct attention during Study and instructions is crucial for focusing attention. Discipline is akin to good parenting. Endless patience, calm, and warmth are a must. Simply looking at a student can often be enough, and keeping reprimands private and empathetic are best, with emphasis on the behavior rather than the student (which can make them feel their actions are unchangeable, or that they are being attacked).