So, I may be looking ahead a bit ... a bit too much perhaps, but still, I just want to get this out there ...
How do we show our "teaching persona?" To be honest, I am not even sure if I know fully what that is/what it means. My students have gotten to know my personality, have gotten to see who I am and some of my interests, but is that my "persona?"
In my head I am equating persona with personality, but is that wrong? If not, how do you show personality when you teach, your quirks and your interests, your little niches that your students love to point out and joke about?
I guess it would just all be in the planning ... at least that is the only conclusion I am coming up with as I ramble here in front of you all ... I'm guessing that the key is to plan a lesson where your life can relate to your students ... and then pray that it goes that way and that the iPad catches it while on record.
Any thoughts on this? I'm really just spit-balling (I'm starting to really like that term, idk why). I'm just looking ahead at what I deemed to be the trickiest of the RPG's and I figured I would share my thoughts in case any of you were having the same ...
Jess, I am following my co-op's modeling of this, as I think it fits the notion of teacher personality. When the class is under control, she is free to show her humor and playfulness. She does this in ways that are very natural to her personality and appropriate to the setting. It might be an animated "high five" to a student who just answered a question or a funny reference to her age, in the context of a student saying something about being "hot." The students know by now that they only get to have the "fun" teacher persona when they are on task and behaving. Again, the persona is natural and effortless, but becomes stern when behaviors are not acceptable. I'm still trying to find my stern side. What works for my co-op doesn't seem to work for me because there is a hint of "Oh shit, now what?" in my delivery. The kids can sense this and they play off it.
ReplyDeleteSo, I hope that helps! I am still on the quest for finding my authoritarian persona, as it does not come naturally to me. The fun side is easy!
I think this might depend on the person. For me, my persona and personality are pretty much the same because I feel the kids deserve to know who I really am and not who the teacher me is. I don’t really like the idea of having to put on a “teacher mask” because these kids don’t deserve that. What I mean by this is I'm organized, laid back, have a dry sense of humor, and maintain structure both in and out of the classroom. Now, this doesn't mean I pull out the stern “teacher mask” every now and then, but I definitely avoid yelling because all it seems to do to our kids is make them shutdown (I saw this first-hand when they got in trouble by another teacher).
ReplyDeleteWhat has helped me connect to my class is to let them know a little bit about me without having to divulge every little detail (i.e. they know I go to some of the Eagles games, but I don't tell them that I tailgate before the game). Also, I didn’t offer up information and instead answered their questions as long as they were appropriate. Once they started to know bits and pieces about me as a person, most of them seemed to open up and ask for help more often than not. Most importantly, they respect and trust me. I think it’s hard to earn their respect and trust if you’re putting up a front day in and day out. I think this is one of the reasons several of my students give both me and my co-op in the morning and before they leave for the day.
My advice would be not to overthink what your persona is in the classroom. This could end up hurting your lesson because you’ll be more focused on your persona and not focused enough on the actual lesson.
agreed. no clue what to do, jess. i may just record myself for a few days and then piece together things. let it happen organically and see what comes out.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about this a little bit. I guess my teacher persona is my personality...or how much of it my students see. For instance, today my students took a test and were allowed to "work quietly" afterwards. I noticed that some of my students were listening to their iPods, so I took some time to ask them what they were listening to. They enjoyed being able discuss their interests, and it showed them that not only do I love music, but I am also interested in their lives outside of school. To me, this relates to my teacher persona. I think that anytime they get to see my personality, this builds my teacher persona. They know how to behave in my class, and they know what to expect of me. I'm not sure if any of this helps. But this is what it means to me.
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