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TEACHING TECHNIQUES
Two of the well recognised incentives to learning, i.e. praise and encouragement, are of paramount importance in IDEAL, particularly in children with learning difficulties. A child, especially one who tries hard, should not be rebuked or admonished for failure. An outlet for frustration can be bad behaviour. In such circumstances much encouragement should be given to any progress made, no matter how small. Every incentive should be given to all students to make each one feel that they are succeeding.
Enthusiasm.
Optimism improves the chances of success for any venture and it is a vital quality for a teacher to bring to IDEAL. Convincing students they can succeed powers the escalator to success. However, the greatest gift a teacher can give a student is enthusiasm for a subject. Enthusiasm is infectious. Enthusiasm enables both the student and the teacher to realise their full potential.
Humiliation.
Never humiliate a student. Nobody likes to be made to look foolish. It can lead to a truculent attitude. This is especially so for those for whom success is hard to achieve. They give up and stop trying to learn.
Feeling special.
Virtually everyone who has had a close encounter with a live dolphin comments that it was an uplifting experience and that the dolphin, somehow or other, made them feel special. Making each and every student feel special is one of the objectives of IDEAL, especially those with low self esteem. IDEAL openly recognises that every student is different and that some need to have their confidence boosted in order to succeed.
Smoothing relationships.
IDEAL accepts that every student has his or her own agenda that probably does not put learning English high on their list of priorities. IDEAL therefore accepts that individual likes and dislikes must be taken into account if students are to get the maximum benefit from their English lessons. That is why each student is requested to write down their personal attitude to English as a first step in IDEAL. This enables teachers to understand their students better, which should help to smooth the teacher/student/parent relationship.
Creative activities - making English ‘cool’.
In addition to providing a basis for learning English the Dilo stories should also be linked to creative, artistic activities such as drawing pictures, writing poems, designing a dolphin tee-shirt, composing a dolphin song, making a paper maché dolphin etc. Ask students for ideas on what they would like to do. Developing alternative ways of expressing themselves may reveal unsuspected levels of competence.
This approach relates English, which may be regarded as ‘boring’ by students because it is something that has to be learned, to topics in which they take a personal interest. It also makes students subconsciously aware that English can be related to everything around them, from pop music to fashion. Helping students to discover that ‘dolphins are cool’ leads to a feeling that ‘English is cool’ by association.
Monitoring progress.
Most teachers incorporate many of the aspects of IDEAL, outlined herein, in their normal English classwork. The introduction of IDEAL and the inclusion of the Dilo books into the curriculum will not therefore give rise to major changes in their usual teaching practices. Naturally they will want to monitor what is happening. As lessons progress experienced teachers will get a feeling, based on previous experience, for any changes in the speed of learning that the introduction of Dilo and the IDEAL principles brings to their pupils. It is comforting to have facts and figures to back up these feelings. Retesting at the end of an IDEAL course and comparing the results with those that would be expected in a peer group after ‘normal’ English lessons over the same period will provide solid support in the form of SATS (Special Assessment Tests) for any conclusions reached.
Teachers have their own measure of the levels of personal enjoyment and satisfaction IDEAL brings to English classes for both themselves and their students. Sometimes there are unexpected bonuses. In a pilot study of IDEAL with special needs children in a year 7 class word quickly spread through the school. When students in other classes found out how much the SEN students were enjoying their lessons they demanded that they too should have the new style IDEAL English lessons.
Overcoming resistance to learning.
In our western, achievement dominated society the joys of learning can be subsumed by compulsory schooling and a relentless drive to succeed and pass examinations. Inability to pass exams is seen as failure. This can lead to feelings of inadequacy and reluctance to do schoolwork, especially in less able children from homes in which there is a culture of resistance to all forms of imposed authority e.g. the police, lead government officials and teachers. By becoming a non-human role model, Dilo, who is mischievous and not without his own problems, can help dispel such attitudes.
Asking the same questions at the end of an IDEAL course as those posed at the beginning can throw up some interesting and sometimes unexpected insights into the psyche of students, especially those with special educational needs. For instance, a student who changes his or her answer from “no” to “yes” to the question “Do you like English?” could be regarded as a positive achievement, indicating that psychological barriers to learning English have been overcome, even if SATS do not show any marked improvement.
Acceptable behaviour.
Acceptable standards of behaviour have got to be set in all walks of life. Children feel more secure if they know what these boundaries are. It is natural for them to keep testing them to find out how far they can be extended. Setting standards of behaviour and keeping control is especially important in the classroom, where, if one student gets away with unruly behaviour, others may quickly follow suit. Keeping discipline without being heavy handed is much more demanding with students whose parents find it difficult to control their children at home. IDEAL seeks to ease this situation by actively involving parents and making it clear to them that it is in the best interests of the pupil for the teacher to uphold standards of good behaviour in school. Having gained the respect and co-operation of parents, teachers may, when appropriate, discretely offer advise on how to discipline youngsters out of school.
Reducing bad behaviour and truancy.
Everyone in education understands how demanding and exasperating achieving good behaviour in and out of class can be at times.
The difficulties some students have developing relationships with those around them can manifest as antisocial behaviour. Such problems are less likely to arise when students build mental relationships with Dilo, who gives unconditional love, and makes no demands in return.
Bad behaviour can also be the outcome of attention seeking. This can be resolved by ignoring the bad behaviour and diverting the student’s attention to another, possibly more creative activity, thereby satisfying the need, but not openly acknowledging the attention he/she is craving for.
Frustration at having capabilities but not being able to fulfil a task or test in the expected conventional manner can also lead to behavioural problems. Dyslexia and mild autism, which can easily be overlooked, are cases in point. By helping students to find and develop alternative ways of expressing themselves IDEAL can reduce behavioural problems even if the precise cause cannot be identified.
IDEAL can redirect the energies of bright children whose lively intelligence sometimes seeks outlet in unsociable behaviour and truancy, which are reduced when lessons are interesting, stimulating and fun to attend.
Rudolf Steiner and Maria Montessori
Methods of teaching are constantly under review and always have been. Most youngsters soak up information like a sponge regardless of the manner in which it is presented to them. There are others, however, who do not respond well to the methods of the day. Helping students in this category is often what stimulates innovations. This was certainly the case with two pioneers of alternative approaches to teaching: Rudolf Steiner (1861 - 1925) and Maria Montessori (1870 - 1952). Schools throughout the world that now bear their names continue to approach education broadly along the lines they developed.
Rudolf Steiner pioneered the use of art and nature to help children develop their thinking process, particularly those with mental problems. Emphasis is placed on letting children develop in a spontaneous way and to create their own games and activities with the minimum of interference. Pupils are shown how to use natural materials inside and outside of the school building and are encouraged to work in harmony with nature.
Maria Montessori was the first woman to receive the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Rome. In 1904 she became an instructor in the psychiatric clinic of the university and took a special interest in the training of children who at the time were defined as being “mentally deficient”. She concluded that mental illnesses were better treated by education than the medical practices of the day. In 1898 she became the Principal of the Scuola Ortofrenica (mind-straightening school) in Rome for feeble minded children. She obtained such startling results that many of the so-called “idiots” were able to compete with normal children of their own age. Montessori then began to suspect that if her methods were applied to normal children they would bring about a radical reform in education.
Her first experiment in 1906 was so successful that she gave up her medical practice and two chairs at the university and concentrated entirely on education. Children from the slums of Rome responded wonderfully to her system of free discipline. By 1909 the Montessori method was established. Her “children’s homes”, as her classrooms were called, were built in proportion to the size of the children themselves, and designed to correspond to their psychological needs.
The Montessori method of education soon spread to all parts of the world. Her teaching techniques found special favour in the Indian sub-continent among all casts, the students working harmoniously together. The Montessori method was essentially empirical. It was based on non-interference with the child’s freedom and individuality and the use of sensory training during the earliest stages of education. She believed the best kind of education was provided by learning for oneself.
When alternative approaches to of education are shown to be effective they, or parts of them, eventually become standard practice. This is what happened to the Steiner and Montessori methods, various elements of which are now included in the instruction given at virtually all teacher training colleges.
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