TEFL Waffle

We aren't in the mood to write this blurb. 

Troy has a colleague who has a problem with him and is suffering from a critique. Troy also has a problem with that first sentence as he's unsure who the subject of the second verb is. Steve has a problem with criticism of sentences. Anyway, why anyone would dare critique Troy is beyond anything we can understand because he's perfect in many ways, nevertheless it happened. Have you had a colleague make comments about your teaching? How does it feel? What did you do? Why does it make a difference? Listen to Steve waffling about this with Troy as the two of them try to make sense of this very important question of teaching team-work life.

It's time for an analysis of a teacher in the movies, and it's 'Fast Times at Richmond High' this time around. And our fantastic teacher is Mr Hand, whose first words we hear are "Aloha. I am Mr. Hand." Pretty cool, huh? If you haven't met Mr. Hand, let Evets and Yort lead you through the intricate pedagogy of this teacher at Richmond High, as seen through the lens of a bunch of teens. He is a fascinating teacher, and this is a fascinating school, and only one podcast doesn't allow these two pod wafflers to fully explore the depth and breadth of what he has to offer his poor classroom. Spoiler alert - Mr. Hand is liked by TEFLWaffle, in spite of his interesting foibles. And who the heck was the weird kid who obeys Hand's finger snapping? And how in the world did he manage to get kids to obey him at a snap of the fingers? (Yes, that literally happens!)

If you listened to our last podcast about lesson planning, you'll remember Steve planned a lesson for Troy, who then taught it and reported it to be a disaster of Pompeii-an proportions. This time, you can listen to Troy and Steve doing it the other way around. Troy is planning and Steve is commenting inanely in the background.  To make things more complicated, they don't know the students nor the location they will be teaching. That means they will have to prepare a nice, juicy ice-breaker to get all the students ready for the class and give everyone a chance to find out who is who. Let's be clear - planning is one of the most boring parts of a teacher's existence, but somehow Steve and Troy seem to have a lot of fun doing it. Who knows how!! Although, come to think of it, ice-breakers are actually pretty cool, especially the way Troy does them - big fat ones with gravy and pickles.

Linky

Steve read an interesting paper and wants to share it with everyone - and you are included. The paper really is interesting, he isn't wrong, though Troy has some things to say about what Steve finds interesting and how sad his life is generally. Anyway, the thrust of the paper, and this podcast episode, are the really useful tricks and tips for how to be a boring teacher. Trust us, these are the best list of tips you'll come across, and you can depend on them being all you need to become the best boring teacher and achieve all your boring teacher aims. And who ever said lists of '10 tips for...' were just clickbait!?

Love it or hate it, testing is an integral part of a teacher's life, and an even more integral part of a student's life. Hate it because it's time consuming, irritating, overblown, and in many schools poorly managed. There is also that awful problem of negative washback. Love it because it provides everyone with useful feedback on what is happening with the learning process, and also because students use it as a way of motivating themselves to learn. So how do you feel about testing? How does Troy feel (about testing, but about life in general). Does Steve feel? In this podcast we don't get quite that existential, but there is a lot to consider, to ponder, and to waffle about (too).

Troy has a problem. That's not really true - he has many, but this is one particular problem with one particular group of students. Can Steve help him solve this problem in any meaningful way? Can Steve even understand what the problem is? Along the way, we discuss the nature of teens, the ego of a dedicated teacher, the bizarre relationships between teachers and teen classes, and the importance of persistence as a way of dealing with the vagaries of the students' response to our efforts as teachers. 

You know, some movies have a lot of stuff going on in them. This is not really one of them, but if you are a teacher interested in bad teaching, task-based learning, student motivation and self-actualization of large crowds of parents, then might just work for you. Ignore the first 10 minutes, which we discussed in Part 1, which is absolutely remarkable in terms of cringe-worthiness, Troy and Steve have an entire page-worth of things to discuss, argue, and bicker about. One just wishes Troy would organize his notes into themes like a good Lit101 student should. So, onwards into an eyebrow-acting extravaganza!

Have you ever been in a class where a teacher is a complete tit? Have you ever seen a teacher so embarrassing you've wanted to commit suicide? Do you know teachers who are so bad that you wish they, you and all the students were just not there for the duration of that class? Or perhaps have you ever watched a movie that you've hated so much that you've wanted to throw the TV at Troy? Well, In School of Rock you get all of that and much much more. Jack Black is absolutely awesome at being a rubbish teacher and there is so much to talk about here that the podcast has to be in two parts: one to talk about how bad he is at teaching, and another to talk more about how bad he is at teaching. TITM part 1 of School of Rock is here in all its glory - and to be honest we were so shellshocked from watching half of the movie we don't really know what we were talking about most of the time. Enjoy!

Classrooms are places where students are encouraged to sit quietly, listen carefully and basically be awesomely well behaved. That's probably not a good idea if you want the students to learn. You really want students up and about and shouting and moving and speaking in order for learning to take place. Do teachers know that movement is important? Even for adults? If not, should they be taught to put their right foot in first, or shake it all about?