Interactivityation (should be a word)

I'm going to pick up on something Alex touched on, the whole idea of interactivity. I don't think anybody in academia would argue that an interactive class is generally better than one in which the professor stands in front and lectures the whole time (though lectures do certainly have their place in communicating new ideas and knowledge that is simply superior in many cases).

But what I really like about what Nystrand says is this: "A long tradition of research and polemic pitting of teacher versus student as the appropriate theoretical center for understanding curriculum and instruction has precluded our understanding that more basic than either teacher or student is the relationship between them" (6). This is a very important distinction, both from teacher-centered approaches and, perhaps even to a greater extent, from student-centered approaches. The important aspect of a teaching style is not whether it's centered on one party or the other but how good the relationship between the two parties is.

I saw this first-hand in my year of teaching in Korea (not to show off or anything; I still find it amazing that I'm the most experienced teacher in the class). During our week-long orientation, one of the best speakers who came in was a five-year vet of Seoul's ESL program. The thing he said that stuck with me most was "If you have a good relationship with your students, they're going to learn from you." I realized through the year that this was very true; I tried to make class interactive, but in many cases it was simply impossible as I was reduced to teaching the students dialogue straight out of a text book. But what I realized was that if they genuinely liked and respected me as a teacher (not in a buddy sense but in a good teacher sense), they would involve themselves to whatever extent was possible. My demeanor and style, which unfortunately was substantially different in different classes (12-year-olds with ADHD put a damper on your mood), to a large extent determined their attitude about the material and willingness to try, even if it was boring sometimes.

So my haughty recommendation as somebody with very limited teaching experience would be that you involve yourself personally in the well-being of your students. They can tell whether or not you really care. A good relationship with them is everything in their motivation to participate. You don't have to be their best friend, and in fact shouldn't overstep the student-teacher boundaries, but it certainly helps if you show that you're invested in some sense in their scholastic well-being.

Thus spake the snooty guy with one year of teaching experience in a Korean middle school.