Do Teachers Speak the Same Language with the Students? It is Time to Tune in

Evrim Üstünlüoğlu, Turkey

Dr. Evrim Üstünlüoğlu works at Izmir University of Economics. She has been teaching English for over 25 years. She enjoys reading on new approaches in teaching and learning. E-mail:evrim.ustunluoglu@ieu.edu.tr

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Background
How can we make a difference as teachers?
Ways to make classroom life simpler
References

Background

Research indicates that in many European, Asian and in most states in America curriculum outcomes are seen as a series of set goals, rather than an emerging process. This means that many educators, teachers, and policy makers are missing long term harms in this process by concentrating on "what" rather than on "how", which makes a major difference in terms of academic, social and emotional well-being. We often have to ask ourselves why ‘shooting’ at school dominates the news, and why alcohol and drug use are reported at schools, as well as trauma, depression and even suicide (Ceballo et al, 2003; reports by SAMHSA, 2003-2004). These facts seem to show the results of this approach.

While the above mentioned questions can not be answered satisfactorily, the answer to the question "what" is already stated in curriculum with properly stated concepts, principles, and impressive sounding words like "equal educational opportunities, a balanced curriculum, life-long learning, critical thinking, problem-solving and creative thinking". However, we, as teachers and educators, should be concentrating on whether students really go out of their schools equipped with all the advantages promised by the curriculum, whether students really develop competence in the skills needed to participate effectively in society, and whether they acquire the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to make most appropriate choices in relation to their health and well-being.

Reports and research results, unfortunately, say that most schools fail to assure their students develop even basic competencies. On the contrary, results reflect how students are in need of being protected and of further learning. One of the report results found that 62% of teens believe their teachers do not encourage them to learn more while 50% of students say they do not receive prompt feedback from teachers and educators, and 60% of students in secondary school do not feel cared for or included in their school (NSTA report). The report also suggests that if students were more confident of their abilities, enjoyed the subject matter more, and were convinced of the relevance of schoolwork to everyday life, they could be more equipped to overcome difficulties in life. In other words, if we - as teachers, educators and policy makers- could speak the same language with students, the outcome would be different.

Supporting the report results, Toppo (2004) claim that poor grades, high absenteeism and dropout rates as well as gang affiliation, drug and alcohol use should be associated with failure. These negative results can have just as serious and long term lasting effects for both teachers and students as loneliness, depression, and adjustment difficulties (Nansel et al. 2001), poor academic performance (Wei and Williams, 2004), dropping out of school (Beauvais et al, 1996) and may even cause teachers to leave the profession (Karcher, 2002).

How can we make a difference as teachers?

Being aware of that the question "how" can make the most difference in terms of academic, social and emotional well-being, we, as teachers, can make a difference. Farkota (2005) claims that the overwhelming majority of problems associated with the process (how) are directly related to the nature of the curriculum, which it is often neither easy nor practical to change. However, he suggests that teacher’ instructional style, his/her methodology, and pedagogy make a difference. Emphasizing the importance of the teacher in teaching process, Westwood (2006) states that an ineffective teacher bears more responsibility for a disengaged student than any other factor. He also questions whether teachers are actually aware of approaches, methodology, and most importantly, pedagogy.

It is a well-known fact that it is far more important for a student to find himself in an effective classroom than in an effective school. This means providing a rich environment and a variety of choices to help children direct, develop and expand their own interests and unique talents, developing social and emotional well-being. A teacher can provide this through "connectedness", which is nurtured in the classroom through strong relationship, rapport with students, high level of engagement in the classroom, presentation of emotions, personal mastery, and transferring social concepts into effective habits (Fuller, 1998).

Good teachers who consider pedagogy important also make a difference by fostering connection between health and education. If teachers protect the mental, social, and physical health of students, which are indispensable, they can significantly increase achievement (Marx, 2003). According to Lohrman (2003), unless health problems are solved, the ability of most students to master even the best designed curriculum and perform well on tests seems difficult.

Ways to make classroom life simpler

We, as teachers, should remember to set clear priorities for student learning and to overcome the crowded curriculum by answering the question "what is absolutely essential for all students to know, understand, do and value in the process of schooling?" and by matching content and teaching strategies to achieve outcomes. This covers distinguishing between essential learning, worthwhile learning and specialized learning (Frydenberg, 1997). Essential learning means knowledge, skills, attitudes and values needed by all students. Worthwhile learning is knowledge and skills worth knowing but not essential for all, while specialized learning means interesting and relevant knowledge and skills for a minority. The learning outcomes, likely to be agreed as essential, seem to cluster in three main areas:

1. Understanding self: personal identity, values and development, metacognition, interpersonal communication, knowledge and skills, creativity and expression, personal attributes, attitudes and values such as optimism and resilience, understanding emotional, physical health and well-being.
2. Understanding the world
3. Understanding other people and their cultures (Frydenberg, 1997): According to Frydenberg (1997), distinguishing the types of learning as explained above can save time for teachers and leads more meaningful learning.

Teachers who are committed to the learning process, and to their students’ emotional, physical health and well-being, should give full weight to in-class activities they conduct and the following examples could be employed by teachers to promote cognitive, emotional and physical health:

• use role play activities so that students can discuss problems, show empathy and practice new responses,
• create opportunities for autobiographical and life story work so that students can develop resilience and positive coping strategies,
• embed creativity in the classroom such as drama, music, art and story telling so that students can understand their experiences and manage difficult memories and feelings,
• use games and sports so that students can cope better and show resilience through releasing tension and having fun and enjoyment.

In conclusion, in a complex, multidimensional education system, teachers have the role of sorcerers -magicians- since they not only speak the language of the students, but also have the power to create a classroom atmosphere where student’s emotional well–being is not sacrificed to the heavy curriculum requirements, and provide the conditions for students to function effectively as social beings.

References

Beauvais, F., Chavez, E., Oetting, E., Deffenbacher, J., & Cornell, G. (1996). Drug use, violence, and victimization among white American, Mexican American, and American Indian Dropouts, students with academic problems, and students in good academic standing. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 43, pp. 292-299

Cehallo, R., Ramirez, C., Heam, K., Maltese, K. (2003). Community Violence and Children’s Psychological Well-Being: Does Parental Monitoring Matter? Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, vol. 32, no.4, pp. 586-592

Farkota, R.M (2005), "basic math problems: the brutal reality!" learning difficulties. Australian Bulletin, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 10-11.

Frydenberg, E. (1997). Young people coping with stress. Journal of the Home Economics Institute of Australia. 4 (3), pp .12-14

Fuller, A. (1998). From survey to thriving: promoting mental health in young people. Melbourne: ACER

Karcher, M. (2002). The Cyle of Violence and Disconnection Among Rural Middle School Students: Teacher Disconnection as a Consequence of Violance. Journal of School Violence, 1, pp.35-51

Lohrmann, D. (2003). Healthy school report card background paper. Unpublished report, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Marx, E. (2003). Stories from the field: Lessons learned about building coordinated school health programs. Atlanta: CDC.

Nansel, T., Overpeck, M., Pilla, R., Ruan, W., Simons, B., & Scheidt, P. (2001). Bullying Behaviors Among U.S. Youth: Prevalence and association With Psychosocial Adjustment. Journal of the American Medical Association, 285, pp.2094-2100

NSTA, national Science Teachers association. Survey of Teens Raises Questions. on http://www3.nsta.org/mainnews. Retrieved on 23. December.2006.

SAMHSA (2003-2004), office of Applied Studies, national Survey on drug use and Health. From: http://oas.samhsa.gov/MHrace.htm

Toppo, G. (2004). U.S. Students’well-being scrutinized. USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/education updated 2004

Westwood, P. (2006). Teaching and Learning Difficulties: cross-curricula perspectives. Camberwell: ACER Press.

Wei, H., & Williams, j:h. (2004). Relationship Between Peer Victimization and School Adjustment in 7th grade students: Investigating Mediation Effects. Violence and Victims, 19, pp. 557-571.

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