watch an inspirational teacher and weep a little

[BadDog]

dont apply mascara before watching

TFM - largely in the US they dont have a curriculum, certainly not one prescribed like that here in the UK. Whilst I hate the NC, the US approach is not necessarily the best.

It isnt true that US teachers are more familiar with their pupils. Some might be ( and moreis TV type hype that they are) Familiarity can breed contempt. I am old school myself. I dont tell much about myself.
Occassionally a student will google me or wiki me but I prefer to play personal things down.

ha

I dont give a shit - they know my name age etc everything.

are remarkably uninterested when you just tell them.

I live in the middle of catchment so mantaining an air of mystery is quite hard when they have seen me walking my dog at 6am in my joggers , slighly bleary eyed.

I also have children who are either in the school that I teach, or in the feeder, the one at the grammar has friends in the school that I teach. So I have probably had a good 10% of the school at my dinner table.

Happygardening - when I was at university we used to call the Carl Rogers school of communication the FOFO school of education.

That said Carl Rogers was a really nice bloke and nothing like the educational school that follows him and often bad reps his name ( I met him once). But certainly he was a case of the singer not the song.

MaureenShit
thats all well and good if you are teaching a PHSE lesson, not so good if you are teaching a physics lesson.

I am not aware that pupils hold me in contempt, if they do it is not because they know where I live and what car I drive.

"FOFO school of education." ???

I didnt say it did breed contempt arisbottle, just that it can. Better to be safe than sorry is another of my motto's.

F* Off and Find Out. ( FOFO that is)

The thing that confused me about this teacher was that he seemed to be the one doing most of the experiments. they were passive observers. he was the actor centre stage. Shouldn't the pupils be centre stage? I teach and love being flamboyant but have to rein that in a lot to make sure that they are learning, not merely watching and enjoying the show. there's a big difference between being an entertainer and a teacher.

I'm not saying he's a weak teacher, but the evidence of a good one is on what the pupils produce, not what the teacher can do.

When I was on dialysis we had to kind of cross a line with ds's teachers as we just needed so much support to even get him there on occasion. They all were amazing and got involved with us and other parents so that disruption to ds was minimal. I could phone at any time from the hospital and they were on it organising after school with another parent etc on occasions when my plans went a bit awry. My son did so well and they are a lot to do with it. We are still in touch with them all

I think that is a valid point and particularly under the new framework he may not be judged as outstanding because it is so teacher led. Having said that I certainly need to work on being a "guide from the side" . Of course we can not see what his pupils did next, the video was about him - so I suppose that is where they focused.

Ronaldo I am sure there are pupils who dislike me, heck today one of my own children is not that keen. But I suspect they would also dislike me if I lived out of town and had little presence outside of the classroom.

As someone with a pastoral role I find familiarity ( as appropriate) helpful. I have just taken my dog out this morning for a walk and bumped into two familes whose children I teach. They bought me a coffee, we sat and chatted , they wished me happy new year. No harm done. Relationships are key to teaching.

Its not all bad I knew what I was trying to achieve its was just the body was not listening to my instructions so to keep telling me what to so was not going to make any difference. When I wanted to know more I used to watch (gawp in admiration) the successful encouraged by this trainer and read relevant books etc and then struggle to mainly unsuccessfully to copy it. It had to be said having gone out and learnt it off my own back I had an excellent understanding of the subject just sadly the lacked the physical ability to make it happen.

I agree racingheart that is the big danger, that the step beyond engaging and simply entertaining pupils

Well, I teach physics lessons, and find it makes no difference if the students know my name. They do - it's on my school email, and they know about my children, because they ask and I see no reason not to tell them. I don't divulge crazy amounts of detail, but I certainly use my family and friends as exemplar material when teaching about all sorts of things.

Each to their own arisbottle. I personally do not have a pastoral role ( nor do I want one although I have done that in the past). I am a very private person in RL. I respect the privacy of others and expect the same.

Yes, it is about relationships but you can develop relationships based on who you are as a person rather than what people know about you.

Not read the whole thread since, but going on earlier comments...

I don't think the 'fun and games' is the point. 'Fun and games' and flashy style alone wouldn't engage anyone - and even if they did draw attention, would not result in teenagers clearly feeling supported and encouraged, and understood.

How much physics they learn would seem to me (not a teacher, a mere parent) the benchmark of how effective the teaching content is - but in the case of this particular cohort, as is made obvious by the video clip, there are other aspects to what the teacher is doing with these kids. Therapeutic relationship springs to mind.

Which is quite different to 'showing off' or grabbing attention via the use of tricks.

And I do agree with Ronaldo that you can (only) develop authentic and potentially supportive relationships based on who you are as a person - not all kids need or would benefit from relationships with the teacher on the clip.

But the kids on the clip might not benefit from a relationship with some of the teachers on this thread, for all we know.

My DD's class teacher (primary) is way and above a better teacher than any she has had so far - she was an actress (and her husband is an actor) before she became a teacher and her ability to engage her pupils (and parents, for that matter) when she is in front of the class is way superior to anything I have ever seen. She owns the knowledge and knows that the children need to take ownership of it too. That's what I liked about the film this thread is about.

There's no one size fits all in teaching. You have to teach to fit you. There are teachers I hugely admire, but I could never be the teacher they are, because my personality is quite different. When I am mentoring, finding the right people for my trainees or NQTs to observe is pretty key.

What irks me about this thread is the sniffy response to a teacher who is described by those who have seen him teach as a great teacher, when we have not seen him teach. There is no evidence that he requires people to pick up the pieces after him. There is no evidence that he is failing to do the things we all agree are essential for learning. He's a science teacher. Methane bubbles and bed of nails have the wow factor. Practising using formulae doesn't. So if someone was making a video to show how fab he is, they're going to go for the things that have to be demos.

I would like to see what the entire class was doing whilst the lad sped up and down the hall way on the homemade hoover craft and what was happening in the other lessons along the hallway.

I rather think it will have been set up for the filming...

The children I teach often know my name, so far or has not led to any riots. They would never use it, but they know it.

Please note. there is no 'UK' education system.

Ye Gods. Is it worth it? So your point regarding this thread is? Or are you just a point scorer at others expense? Really inspirational that catchafallingstar.

Too many have nothing to say but want to put in anyway.