Is teaching an art ?

 

          As a starting point, it is of paramount importance to think about the process of teaching; that is, if we can consider it as an art or no. In this regard, while teaching, presumably,  is a process that stands on rules and a variety of strategies, its creativity shines in its flexibility and adaptation to any situation. It is crucial to understand that teaching doesn't end at the edge of one or two or even ten methods of teaching, variety is the key in the process of teaching. All ways are valid as long as they work in conveying and transmitting the message and engaging the learner in the process of learning. Whoever tries to convince novice or experienced teachers that one method, such as Grammar- translation method, is better than another in teaching is either missing the point in the world of teaching or fooling him/herself.

 

              Accordingly, for your information, a great teacher is the unique master of his domain and students are the best judge in all circumstances. Furthermore, I would dare any passionate and great teacher out there to have taught the same lesson the same way into two different classes even if it is the same day. Teachers who master the rules of teaching and strategies are usually perfectionist people or in other words a very- flexible teachers. Heuristically, they are obsessed with the need to refine their work as they go along. Throughout this process of teaching, the teacher so confident stands in front of students ready to connect the known with the unknown. Very often, passionate teachers embark into a journey starting their lesson from scratch and laying down the foundation to build upon candles of knowledge and the main purpose, of course, is to lead students to become proficient in whatever they engaged in .

 

                     Generally speaking, passionate teachers often prefer to refresh their students' memory to ease them into the topic i.e., to activate their prior knowledge . After that, they like to trigger their students' curiosity through either a drawing, a picture, a sound, an item, a word, a short song, a quick game, a brief joke, a written statement, a guess, a short movie, a gesture or a studied question. Such a strategy is nothing but a bait to grab students' attention and lead them slowly but surely to the main topic where more digging is needed. It also provides a teacher with a general picture about the students' level in relation to the topic they are about to study.

 

                      Although it is easy to attract students' attention for some time, keeping them focused is what most teachers may find it oftentimes challenging as teachers deal with new kinds of students who we call today digital students. As a result, the teacher needs to know exactly what to say, how to say, when to say and  to keep the topic interesting in order not to lose them. Teacher has to keep his talk brief, ordered and structured, enriched with keywords of the topic balanced with some fun while using a tone and a voice of joy and respect to his audience. Teaching is all about inspiring and engaging. Accordingly, the classroom will be an arena where students will be actively engaged in learning any or content areas.That is, it will be a caring and cooperative community of learners, where the teacher is also a learner while at the same time providing some worthwhile modeling. The classroom will be respectful of all interactants and regularly debates current issues in the community around us.

 

             In addition, the teacher's face needs to wear a cheerful smile all the time that keeps students at an ease mode while showing enthusiasm in interacting with them. This will encourage students to get involved in participating in the lesson while enjoying learning. Teachers should never forget to praise students for any effort they make in the classroom during the lesson- such as, well- done or great job. Teachers should learn all kinds of praising expressions in the target language. Praising students meaningfully will certainly raise their self-esteem, their self-confidence and keep them engaged actively. Teachers should worry more about the bond rather than the content of the lesson. This will surely pay off in the short and long run.

 

            With the earlier in mind, once the introduction is over, teachers can invite different students to discuss, to work and debate their point either individually, in pairs, in groups or as a whole audience depending on the situation, the mood of work, and time. Variety, all the time,  is key to excitement. Teacher provides an opportunity to students to experience the language through the topic. It can be through many different techniques per se answering a short question, naming, identifying, touching, smelling, defining, observing, describing, spelling, classifying, re-ordering, re-organizing, writing, calculating, proofreading, comparing, contrasting and raising questions. In the same vein, this is where the teacher plays many roles in the class-room, for example, to become a facilitator, a motivator and a listener as well as an adjuster. He or she moves around encouraging, adding and building bridges of ideas among learners. Teacher adds spices in the air with excitement in his voice and his appreciation in his praise while checking students' work.

 

                         From here several points could be concluded. Seemingly, teachers will invite students to share their final product, in the practice stage,  whether it is verbally or in writing. Students should show some pride in their work as they celebrate the moment. Such a product will allow teachers to pinpoint the weaknesses and strengths of their students. Additionally, the teacher will reflect about his own teaching, his techniques and activities in order to add some twist and adjustment to refine his work for the next lesson. Teacher should never stop learning about himself and his performance in the domain of teaching because the process is always in need of improvement no matter how good one thinks s/he is. All in all, we can proclaim that the process of teaching is an art.