The Teacher as Circus Performer

Alan Maley, UK

Alan Maley has been involved in ELT for over 40 years. He has lived and worked in 10 countries, including China, India, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. He is series editor for the Oxford Resource Books for Teachers, and has published over 30 books and numerous articles. E-mail: yelamoo@yahoo.co.uk

In an idle moment, I began light-heartedly to think of teacher behaviour in terms of the controlling metaphor of the circus. There have, of course, been many metaphors used to characterize the way teachers are in classrooms. Dufeu (1994: 177-181) likens them to Pygmalion, the parent, Don Juan, and even to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. A cursory check on Google reveals a plethora of examples, so I am doing nothing new. Teachers have been compared to many things: gardeners, therapists, shepherds, performers, etc. Here I am simply situating all the metaphors within the arena of the circus. This is certainly not a serious research article – merely a subjective take on how teachers often behave.

Of course, few if any teachers can be identified with just one of these metaphorical types. Most of us are a complex mix in which different characteristics dominate at different times. Still, it may be helpful to ask yourself as you read, whether you recognize any of these metaphorical stereotypes in yourself or in others you know.

Teacher as ringmaster

The ringmaster controls everything that happens in the ring. He may do it overtly by cracking his long whip, or more subtly with a small gesture of the hands or by directing his gaze. But the keyword is always control. Nothing must ever get ‘out of control’. So it is with teachers as ringmasters. The lesson plan is worked out in minute detail, and must be completed come what may. Behaviours and practices are likewise regulated. Students sit where they are told, do what they are told and are careful not to step out of line. The lessons go like clockwork, unless a spring snaps somewhere.

Teacher as lion-tamer

The lion tamer also exerts control, sometimes by brute force, sometimes using rewards, sometimes by subtle reminders of his power. But the lion-tamer regards his charges as inherently savage beasts who need discipline to make them perform. Given the chance, they will turn on him and savage him. This potential violence is always present to his mind, and makes him sometimes nervous, which causes him to over-react. And sometimes, the creatures really do savage him! Does this stir any memories of teachers you have had or seen at work?

Teacher as snake-charmer

The snake charmer also knows that his animals are dangerous and will bite him, given half a chance. But his strategy is to mesmerize them into willing compliance with his wishes. Teachers who charm their classes are somewhat similar. Be it through music, smiles, a warm tone of voice or even through small acts of kindness, they manage to persuade their students to cooperate. If their charm is genuine, this can have fruitful results for everyone: the charmer and the charmed. But if the snakes sniff a whiff of insincerity or hear a false note…they may strike.

Teacher as contortionist

The contortionist engages in complex physical entanglements, making his body into shapes so extraordinary that they are almost unbelievable. The applause comes when he untangles again. Teachers too can be contortionists, though not necessarily physically. They will sometimes involve students in incredibly complex and mystifying activities. They may literally tie themselves in knots when they lose the thread of what they intended to do. They may wander off into a maze of distractions. Unlike the circus contortionist however, they may fail to untangle themselves, leaving the audience/class perplexed as to how it should react..

Teacher as strongman

The strongman has bulging muscles and an air of invincibility. He will lift weights, bend iron bars, support the weight of several people on his stomach, pull a loaded vehicle along with his teeth. In a like way, the strongman teacher impresses the class with the extraordinary feats he can perform. He can talk English like a native (of where?). See how big his vocabulary is. How many books he has read. How encyclopoedic is his grasp of grammar. Watch his intellectual muscles rippling. The students will not necessarily learn how to do these things themselves but they certainly learn how to admire them when he does them.

Teacher as high wire walker

See him way up in the obscurity of the big top, spotlights playing on him as he launches out on to the high wire, holding his long pole, with no safety net beneath him. Watch his uncanny sense of balance as he dances back and forth along the narrow wire until finally he reaches the safety of the other side. Teachers like this take incredible risks, yet their sense of balance and timing usually gets them safe to the other side. They may throw away the textbook, not follow the syllabus, engage students in apparently strange activities. Yet their belief that they will not fall carries them through. They have courage, and they will need it in a world where non-conformity is increasingly penalised.

Teacher as trapeze artist

The trapeze artist shares some of the characteristics of the high wire walker. He engages in perilous-looking acrobatics high above the crowd. But his somersaults and dramatic flights through the air are highly choreographed and pre-planned.. This is a show. The risks are minimal because there is a safety net. The essential quality is aesthetic: it has to look good.. Some highly successful teachers operate this way too. Everything is meticulously choreographed to provide the audience / class with their thrills. But there is always a Plan B to fall back on in case things go wrong. And just as well too!

Teacher as scene-shifter

Scene shifters are almost invisible. They are there but they are not noticed. Unobtrusively they change the décor, move the furniture around, set up apparatus, so that the act can happen in the environment they have created for it.. In much the same way, some teachers unobtrusively set the scene in the classroom, creating a space – both physical and psychological – in which the acts of learning can unfold. They are there if needed but they do not occupy centre stage. Yet their invisible presence is essential to what happens.

Teacher as clown

I have left this till last because, for me, it resonates most strongly. There is of course more than one type of clown. There are those who simply have plenty of well-worn tricks and who fool around the whole time, engaging in well-rehearsed slapstick. And we have all come across teachers like that. But there is the other kind of clown. The one who, in the tradition of Lecocq, waits for whatever will happen, and responds to it. This is the kind of teacher who believes that the unpredictability of the classroom event is what creates the opportunity to truly learn something. Any clowns out there?

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