This is a repost from last year:
Our demeanor counts for a lot in our teaching. We can be the best CI teacher in the world, but if we are so intent on doing it right that that intensity shows up in our faces while we are teaching, the kids will pick up on it and withdraw emotionally. They have reason to do that in this society. In this post Robert Harrell shares a Ted Talk on this topic which I cannot recommend highly enough – watching it to me has been revelatory. I would like to remember to share this Ted Talk here at least once a month, to remind us that if we don’t convey a sense of happiness and ease and encouragement and approval in the most loving way to our students when we teach them using comprehensible input, then it won’t work or, if it does, it will just limp along.
Robert shares:
Hi Ben,
Here is an interesting TED Talk that, I think, has application to the language classroom. Its title is “Lead Like the Great Conductors”, and it demonstrates different styles of leadership. Itay Talgam, the speaker, correlates these conducting styles to leading in other settings and has some fascinating things to say along the way about control, story telling, relationships and other things.
Robert