Well, they need to know how to write a syllabus; they need to know the competencies and objectives of their classes and how to find them; they need to know their way around the school; they need to know internal software and processes; they need to know their colleagues. And, in addition to other "need to knows", they will need to know brain-based education theory (Bloom's Taxonomy is always helpful) just as soon as the HR paperwork is filed.
All that is well and good and important. But one bit of new teacher training (a crucial one in my humble opinion) is often overlooked on most need-to-know lists: the new instructors need to know the theater of teaching. What do I mean by that? I mean the new teachers need to know how to be effective communicators on the stage we call the classroom.
What, you might ask, does theater have to do with the technical college classroom? Sounds a little too liberal arty. And, the androgogg might say, doesn't this go against popular education training? Aren't we trying to move away from the "sage on the stage" and move toward a student-centered classroom? Certainly, but that doesn't dismiss the effectiveness and communicating power of gesture, voice, posture, pace, listening and response: the basics of stagecraft. Preparation, rehearsal, direction, performance, evaluation: all this and more are needed for effective teaching.
I'll admit my theater bias comes from training and performance on the stage in high school, college, and in a little over 20-years of community theater work. But, I also have no doubt that stage training prepared me for my current role in the classroom. Don't take my word for it. Think back to your own experience as a student: what kind of teacher was able to really hold your attention? What kind of teacher excited you, inspired you, made you want to jump up and begin your lab work? It was probably not the teacher (and we've all had these) who read in a sleepy monotone from yellowing 4x6 cards. I would bet your best teachers had a presence that you were not quite able to define: they had either a natural stage presence or one that was backed by training.
Teaching is a performance art whether that "performance" is a lecture, demonstration or discussion. Those who deny that statement are probably not teachers (or at least not very effective ones). An effective teacher is first of all an effective communicator and the basics of effective communications were first developed and refined on the stage. Any instructor, I believe, with even a rudimentary sense and practice of stagecraft, will outshine others who dismiss theatrics as being somehow beneath them.
A master teacher, one who has practiced the theatrics of teaching, possesses an honest, clear, dynamic, individual style that communicates both content and credibility. A master teacher makes each moment in the classroom look easy, effortless, even though that moment has taken hundreds of hours of practice and preparation. Somehow, someway, we need to include a heavy dose of the theater of teaching when we are training our new instructors (a refresher course for old hands wouldn't hurt either).
What, you might ask, does theater have to do with the technical college classroom? Sounds a little too liberal arty. And, the androgogg might say, doesn't this go against popular education training? Aren't we trying to move away from the "sage on the stage" and move toward a student-centered classroom? Certainly, but that doesn't dismiss the effectiveness and communicating power of gesture, voice, posture, pace, listening and response: the basics of stagecraft. Preparation, rehearsal, direction, performance, evaluation: all this and more are needed for effective teaching.
I'll admit my theater bias comes from training and performance on the stage in high school, college, and in a little over 20-years of community theater work. But, I also have no doubt that stage training prepared me for my current role in the classroom. Don't take my word for it. Think back to your own experience as a student: what kind of teacher was able to really hold your attention? What kind of teacher excited you, inspired you, made you want to jump up and begin your lab work? It was probably not the teacher (and we've all had these) who read in a sleepy monotone from yellowing 4x6 cards. I would bet your best teachers had a presence that you were not quite able to define: they had either a natural stage presence or one that was backed by training.
Teaching is a performance art whether that "performance" is a lecture, demonstration or discussion. Those who deny that statement are probably not teachers (or at least not very effective ones). An effective teacher is first of all an effective communicator and the basics of effective communications were first developed and refined on the stage. Any instructor, I believe, with even a rudimentary sense and practice of stagecraft, will outshine others who dismiss theatrics as being somehow beneath them.
A master teacher, one who has practiced the theatrics of teaching, possesses an honest, clear, dynamic, individual style that communicates both content and credibility. A master teacher makes each moment in the classroom look easy, effortless, even though that moment has taken hundreds of hours of practice and preparation. Somehow, someway, we need to include a heavy dose of the theater of teaching when we are training our new instructors (a refresher course for old hands wouldn't hurt either).
No comments:
Post a Comment