The Perks of Being a Pedagogue

“No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers’ dirty looks, when the teacher rings the bell, drop your books and run like hell” – Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower 

When I was in high school, this quote summed up my life. I basically went to school to spend time with my friends and hoped that I would learn something in the process. As a teacher of tomorrow, I do not want my learners to ever feel like they need to “run like hell” once the bell rings. That is why effective pedagogy is needed.

Learners of today are really not stimulated by the same teaching methods of five years ago. Most learners are not even stimulated by the same teaching methods of yesterday. Educators need to bring something new to the classroom every day.

As educators we have the ability to touch so many young learners’ lives. We need to create positive relationships between us and the learners. Have them feel safe. Not just with regards to academics, but we can help with behavioural and social elements too. At one point in time, a school has between +/- 500 to +/- 1 500 learners, depending on whether the school is a private, X-model C or a public school. That is 500 – 1 500 learners’ lives that you, as a pedagogue, can change. This fact is both scary and amazing.

This means engaging with these learners actively. Making sure that you, as the educator, focus on the learner’s ability to learn before you focus on what they learn. Have learners tell you how they learn best. Have them give you feedback as you give them feedback on their work. This will show them that they do have a voice in the classroom. Involve the parents. This will strengthen the link between the learners’ home and school relationship. This will also be beneficial when making sure your lesson is in line with the context of the learners.

Effective pedagogy also depends on the classroom resources. The educator’s ability to capture learners’ attention with the use of multimedia, books, posters and even just your voice. These classroom resources we use can be the difference between a learner not understanding and a learner fully grasping the concept. 

There is a saying that goes, “If a flower does not bloom or loses its petals, do not change the flower but the environment.” You can touch a child’s life so much more when you make the child know his/her well-being and ability to learn means a lot to you. And it should. 

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The independent project is a learning programme designed and sustained by students, where students are in charge of deciding their own curriculum. I think the independent project is an amazing initiative, to an extent.

There are definitely learners who do not wish to be doing Math or Biology, or who do not even like school because they don’t understand what is going on. They cannot grasp the concepts, and not because they are not trying, but because they are just not inclined to do certain subjects. These learners should be catered for, as we do every other learner as everyone has the right to basic education. I remember, in high school, I spent my entire grade 10 year doing Physics and hating every minute of it. In grade 11, my mother urged me to change over to something I would enjoy doing more. I decided to switch over to History and I was the top learner in History that year. It was something I grasped and I just loved studying for it.

The reason I enjoyed doing History more is because I actually knew what I wanted. What I loved. But I was influenced by what society and my teachers told me were better for me. Children have the ability to tell us what they want to learn. These learners know what is going on in the world around them, and there are children who could probably teach their peers better than the teacher can. This is because they know what they want, what stimulates them and what they respond to best.

The artist should be allowed to focus on his/her art, just as the Mathematician should be given the necessary tools to be the best he/she can be. However, independent teaching should be controlled. Even though children know what they want, they are still young adolescents and need proper guidance. As adolescents, children are still going through a developmental period. During this time, there is a heightened responsiveness to incentives and socio-emotional contexts, when impulse control is still relatively immature.

So, instead of solely allowing independent teaching, we should incorporate it into our traditional way of giving class. Educators and learners should decide on the curriculum together.

Learners should be able choose subjects they know they will be fully engaged in and subjects they feel will benefit them. The school should also be able to help these learners realize whether these subjects are what they want to do. Have grade 9 learners attend summer camps in December where they can choose the subjects they want to take from grades 10 – 12 onwards. Have these learners spend two weeks actually doing the subjects. Learners will be able to see whether they like the subjects or not and will be able to make better judgments.

Schools should also have more practical teaching sessions. A way of doing this would be to form joint ventures with certain companies. Learners can then do vac work/job shadowing at these companies, and decide whether their predetermined career path is actually what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Learners will also see what subjects are needed if they wish to study a certain degree.

The independent project is definitely beneficial as it allows learners to get actively involved. As the Chinese proverb states: “Tell me, I’ll forget. Show me, I’ll remember. Involve me, I’ll understand.”