Editorial
This article is adapted from "Teaching for Success" which is available from www.brainfriendly.co.uk

Joy of Teaching – the Little Treasure Chest

Mark Fletcher, Mozambique

Mark Fletcher is Learning Consultant to the OISE Group of schools, Director of Teacher Training at the School of English Studies Folkestone, a Dozent of HNSW, Switzerland and author of many teaching resources. E-mail: Mark@brainfriendlylearning.org

I travel with a small and rather battered ‘treasure chest’- battered because I dropped it in a puddle in a dark rainy car park after a workshop and it was run over by the reversing car of my conference host….and since then has been chewed by a Saluki puppy. This treasure chest contains fourteen things which are reminders to me of why I am a teacher! Everyone reading this page will have a similar metaphorical ‘treasure chest’- possibly containing very different items. Here are some of the things which get pulled out of mine.

A tiny soapstone elephant – it has no commercial value but was a present from some young students. When I visited the place where they lived I realised how difficult it would have been for them to find a nice present-so this has huge value to me as representing receiving as well as giving in teaching. Of course, an elephant never forgets,- so this particular object also signifies the study skills we need to be gleaning and passing on!

The red, green and yellow wooden jumping frog on a string always makes me smile. It is such a colourful reminder of fun and laughter – and movement- in class! When you think about the attributes of a teacher, flexibility must come high on the list!

The Bendy man has a rubbery body on a thin metal frame so he can twist into any shape- like a teacher adapting to different circumstances- without ever being broken.

A while ago on a trip to Russia I was given a ballpoint pen encased in wood, painted with flowers and decorated with a ‘grandmother’ on the top. When it comes out of the box I think ‘Ordinary biro but someone has taken the trouble to decorate it and make it special- and it’s nice to have it!’…ordinary grammar lesson, ordinary staff meeting.. ordinary Friday test, ordinary handout…how can I use my Babushka pen metaphor so these things give a lift to the spirits?

On the greyest of mornings the lavender scent of the little soap can whisk me to a sunny cottage garden,- and it also represents all the senses ands challenges me to bring them into the classroom situation through pictures, flowers, music, things to handle, sweets as rewards…

It’s not easy to achieve, but wouldn’t it be great if each person in a class –at least for a moment, felt themselves to be a ‘star’. Study of the brain and learning, the limbic system, emotional intelligence, self-esteem…. suggests that unless people feel good about themselves and what they are doing then their learning is seriously limited. Hence the shiny star in the Treasure Chest.

Those are six of the fourteen things…there’s also a walnut, a scarlet garter, a Van Gogh postcard, some throat pastilles, a business card, a bead necklace and a jet plane - each has its own reason for being there but I’ll just explain one more of my treasures.

That is the somewhat dog-eared packet of seeds. Day by day and week by week we give out information, idea, creative opportunities – planting seeds and watering them and sometimes there are moments of wondering ‘Why am I bothering to do this?’ And then, unexpectedly, a seed begins to germinate-a flower blooms, someone discovers a real interest in the subject, or passes an exam, or gets a job with skills they’ve learned from you (which of us can’t remember a teacher who had significant influence on our development and life choices?) The seeds my packet are Nigella, but I much prefer their common name ‘Love-in a mist’. We faithfully tend the seeds, often in a bit of a fog about what we’re doing, then sometimes, just sometimes - Wow, it’s Springtime!

And then we do know why we are teachers, and why we bother, and we do know it’s the most important job in the world. And then we should pause a moment to experience that joy – and give ourselves a pat on the back. We DESERVE it!

Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Skills of Teacher Training course at Pilgrims website.