5. Emotional Commitment

Teaching is not a desk job. It requires you to "put yourself out there" and be on each day. Great teachers emotionally commit to their subject matter and their students. Realize that students seem to feel a sense of "ownership" over their teachers. They assume that you are their for them. They assume that your life revolves around them. It is not uncommon for a student to be surprised to see you behaving normally in everyday society. Further, depending on the size of the town where you will be teaching, you need to understand that you will be running into your students pretty much everywhere you go. Thus, expect somewhat of a lack of anonymity in the community.

Discussion:

1. Do you feel concerned about the issues mentioned in the article?

2. What other problems can you come across in the teaching profession?

3. What hardships did you have during your first student teaching?

Topical vocabulary

1. student teaching ( Am.E ); student teacher; teaching practice ( Br.E)

2. teacher training - deals with the basic teaching skills and techniques, typically for novice teachers in a preservice education programme. These skills include such dimensions of teaching as preparation lesson plan, classroom management, teaching the four skills (i.e. reading, writing, listening, speaking), teaching practice, etc.

3. to do practical teaching as part of one's training

4. educator

5. educationist

6. a regular teacher

7. a substitute teacher = substitute = sub ( Am.E); substitute teaching;

8. a qualified teacher; a veteran teacher; a form/a class teacher; a newly assigned teacher; a beginning teacher

9. to be appointed to a school

10. to begin the routines, e.g. I began the routines that I had planned for the first few minutes of class; These are the routines which are set down by the school .

11. to have an institute supervisor

12. to dread the visits of your supervisor

13. to have formal observation lessons

14. to be observed by your supervisor, peers, etc.

15. to be observed for assessment

16. to regard one's observation lessons as an ordeal, e.g. I was told that I was going to be observed next Thursday. This was to be a formal observation.

17. to make up a lesson plan, e.g. That her prearranged lesson plan is useless, is upsetting to her, she nonetheless suggests that it is the children's fault that so many things went wrong.

18. to ask for advice from teachers

19. to consult teachers in the school

20. to familiarize oneself with sth., e.g. You will need to familiarize yourself with the work being done by children and the text-books and materials they are using.

21. to provide support and advice

22. to submit the plan ( the outline) of the lesson to your supervisor

23. teaching techniques, e.g. to give useful recommendations about teaching techniques

18. to develop one's teaching skills

19. to assess sb.'s teaching practice

20. teaching objective

21. a method/style of teaching

22. to be sb.'s fault

23. to find fault with sb.

24. fault, faultless, e.g. It's your fault we're late; a faultless lesson( perfect, having no mistakes).

25. to have discipline problems

26. to establish contact with pupils

27. to get feedback from pupils

28. to have trouble-makers/troubled students in class

29. to compliment on sth., e.g. to compliment the class on its behavior; He complimented me on many, many areas.

30. to criticize sb. on sth., e.g. The principal criticized me on two things.

31. to feel cornered

32. to use visual aids

33. to use multimedia, e.g. multimedia game programs; multimedia equipment

34. good classroom management

35. to be involved in work

36. to gain respect from both teachers and pupils

37. pupils respond better to praise than to punishment

38. to mark registers

39. to be on one's register, e.g. I had expected twenty-six children on my register. When I got there, there were only eighteen children present.

40. the level of knowledge is high

41. far below the level required for a particular form

42. to act according to the expectations of the teacher

43. to experience euphoria, e.g. On the other hand, not all teachers experience euphoria, or honeymoon period. When the children do not act according to the expectations of the teacher, she is sorely disappointed and prone to blame the youngsters for that goes wrong.

44. to have feelings and emotion problems

45. to respond with a flip answer

46. to be in a tense and weary mood

47. the teacher's sympathy and compassion

48. the teacher's love and affection

49. positive feelings/negative feelings

50. to be attentive and well behaved/ to be inattentive and badly behaved

51. to be the scapegoat for a teacher's inner distress

52. to talk back

53. to tell on sb.( informal, used especially by children), e.g. If you hit me, I'll tell on you.

54. to brown-nose ( informal ); a brown-noser , brown-nosing

55. to jabber

56. to get a referral

57. to call out

58. to fool around

59. to yell at sb./to shout at sb.

60. to lose control

61. to keep the class under control

62. to go off smoothly / to go quickly / to drag ( about the lesson )

63. to raise one's hand

64. to be restless

65. to be responsive, willing, cooperative

66. to ask for any volunteers

67. to supervise out-of-class activities

68. to feel absolutely lost / depressed / nervous

69. to overcome initial doubts and regain self-control/to collect oneself

70. to be a tyrant of a teacher

71. to be a softie, e.g. The best thing that happened to me on the first day was being such a tyrant and not showing that I was a softie right away.

72. to see no immediate difficulties

73. to be sympathetic and considerate

74. rapport

75. principal

76. assistant principal