19. Study the inside information: “Times of Transition.” Discuss it in small groups. Summarise it in a written form.

Teachers must manage more than 30 major transitions every day, including housekeeping routines, different instructional activities, collecting and checking tests and other papers, and the like. During these transitions, discipline problems occur twice as often as in regular classroom instruction. Classroom management expert Jacob Kounin has identified some common patterns that can derail classroom management during times of transition.

Flip-flops. In this negative pattern, the teacher terminates one activity, begins a new one, and then flops back to the original activity. For example, in making a transition from math to spelling, the teacher says, “Please open your spelling books to page 29. By the way, how many of you got all the math problems right?”

Over-dwelling. This bad habit include preaching and spending more time than necessary to correct an infraction of classroom rules, e.g. “Anna, I told you to stop talking. If I told you once, I’ve told you 100 times. I told you yesterday and the day before that. And believe me, I’m getting pretty tired of it…”

Fragmentation. In this transition, the teacher breaks directions into several steps instead of giving the instructions in one fluid unit. For

example, “Put away your reading books. You shouldn’t have any spelling books on your desk either. All notes should be off your desk,” instead of the simpler and more effective, “’Clear your desk of all books and papers.”

Thrusts. Classroom momentum is interrupted by random thoughts that just seem to pop into the teacher’s head. For example: The class is busily engaged in independent reading when their quiet concentration is broken by the teacher who says, “Where’s Bob? Wasn’t he here earlier this morning?”

20. Read the text, pay attention to the words in italics and in brackets. Enrich your vocabulary by comparing English and Russian equivalents.

Teaching is a universal (универсальный) activity (деятельность). It is found in all societies and during all historical periods. Without teaching – or the international transfer of knowledge – civilization (цивилизация) quite simply would cease (прекратить существование).

To teach effectively, you must possess (обладать) considerable skills (умения), knowledge (знание), patience (терпение), caring (забота), and commitment (обязательство). But these are not enough. You also must possess understanding (понимание). You must understand yourself and those with whom you work. Besides, it appears that organizational and planning skills, and knowledge of subject matter (тема, вопрос) are crucial (решающий, важный). Each teacher is preparing to embark (начинать) on a voyage of discovery (открытие). With effort (усилие) and good fortune, you will discover (узнать) whether teaching is an appropriate (подходящий) profession for you. In the process you are likely to learn much about yourself that will be of big value (большое значение).

L augh-a-bits