Towards A More Interactive Experience In Teaching And Learning

1) Context - the perspective of a successful veteran private tutor. 2) What teaching must successfully be 3) Why teaching fails This is a radical, yet necessary, way to rejuvenate the teaching process. I am a tutor in mostly Maths of some 38+ years standing. I am aware through tutoring hundreds of students in that time that there are problems in education that are not obvious to many people, but that are critical to having teaching fail more than it should. In education the limit should be the sky, plus some. I am quite radical in my approach to teaching, I deal with the fallout from the school system, and surprisingly, over this 38 years I have found myself looking beyond the level at which teaching is presented to both deeper and more immediate issues, such as the mood and ease of working of the student, their overall attitude to learning, and ways of inspiring them anecdotally with impressions from science, the arts or maths that might uplift their curiosity and appetite to know. This is looking at the background to study problems, and my overwhelming conclusion is that there are emotional issues that lock in certain blocks in studying. These are dealt with by a good mood (often in short supply when a teacher is panicking about covering sufficient syllabus (more on this later)), and in holding aloft the idea that the student should find learning easy, once learning as a process is correctly understood. I have stockpiled hundreds of quality-tested and suitable jokes over the years, to be able to introduce ease where risk or intensity or earlier trauma overshadows a lesson. The kindling of the flame of relaxed concentration and enjoyment is essential, and once alight up leads to a more autonomous and less dependent student. My approach has been to major on the creative and joyful aspects of mastering the discipline, while at the same time, dispelling the traditional negatives and fear of the topic. If one starts from the premise of honouring the student and their engagement, the material then can slide in without anxiety or stress. My reputation and proven track record for motivating students who had given up on maths at school or were not achieving their potential, creates a constant demand for my tuition services from families in London, many of them household names in media and film circles. Being both an artistic and a scientific mind, I know how to motivate either type, especially to help a less logical student make more of a connection with maths. 2) What teaching must successfully be. Buckminster Fuller`s mother On teaching her son one-to-one (Fuller was an American philosopher/architect/mathematician/brilliant thinker) "I don`t care what you think, I`m trying to teach you!". The Aim of teaching To inspire and to give insights. Memorisation in itself is nothing without the insights that go beyond the bullet-points with which teaching often identifies. Bullet points do not educate long term or in depth. Exam driven, and league table driven learning is with us, and we prove our teaching through its results. However, this, and the admin with which teachers have to deal often leads to unmanaged stress, and a classroom scenario that begs for a liberation from stuck energy. (This will be achieved through insight). Educo To lead forth that which is within, not "inducation" - to stuff inside that which is without. Teaching as interaction - the anti-dote to rote-learning - is healthier than mere instructing. I am often asked, "How can one go beyond rote-learning?" The answer is that teaching is 2-way. It is not a broadcast from a teacher. The listening to a student or class response can suggest a fresh presentation of what is required "in the moment" rather than a preset agenda for a lesson. Or at least a lesson programme can be adapted "on the hoof". Interaction can also allow a confirmation and a response from students who might often have an angle on something which may be different to that of the teacher`s. I find that every student has a fresh angle on a topic. They may need to be acknowledged in their unique take on a topic, this is a most effective way to encourage their engagement. On my side One of my students (a girl who being dyslexic was recommended not even to take Maths GCSE, and who obtained an A-grade with my help) was asked by her mother "Why do you so willingly do the work Lawrence sets you, but less so the homework of your other teachers?" She replied "Because he`s on my side." EEG and what it can tell us about using the mind There are 4 levels of activity in the psyche/mind, and what is considered the optimal state (see C Maxwwell Cade, inventor of the "Mind Mirror" publicly available EEG measuring device) is the "Awakened Mind" state where all 4 are active in both hemispheres of the brain. Beta (13-30 Hz) is logic and mental math, Alpha (7-13 Hz) is a relaxed professional or creativity, Theta (3-7 Hz) is meditation or a trance, and Delta (0.5-3 Hz) is deep sleep or a state of shock. In the case of swamis or healers all these functions are shifted to lower frequencies, suggesting that such people have a transforming effect on their body even physiologically. This research underpins my point that education ideally combines the ease of creativity, humour and deep relaxation with the functions more usually associated with study: focus and mental/logical activity. Maximum Happiness with maximum concentration It became clear to me when I`d been teaching for some time that humour and relaxedness are as important than the content. One can make a Venn diagram with happiness and learning as two overlapping sets. In the intersection of the 2 sets there is the optimum target activity, the joy which is a special wisdom. In each of the 2 portions where only one of the two is present, there is ineffectiveness, either happiness without focus, or learning under stress, dullness or tension. It is very clear to me that schools would do well to make this middle ground a proper goal of the classroom atmosphere. A new basis or definition of learning Learning as joyful concentration is more radical than it may appear. Learning is not just content but requires looking after the state of mind of students. Either one`s own as a student, or the recipient student or class, and certainly as a teacher too. There is also the issue of context. Instruction as such is limited. Teaching and learning is at best in an energetic atmosphere of lightheartedness. Humour In the early 1980s I started to tell my students jokes, and it has taken 25 years for the word fun to appear in conjunction with maths lessons. A joke in a maths class in the 80s would have been a form of heresy. The purpose is not merely to amuse, it is to allow greater receptivity to understanding, and a flowering of the student`s individuality. Insight as precursor to information The aim of a lesson should be the awakening and the confirmation of insight into the subject. Not a reductionist series of facts or bullet-points. Insight is a field effect, the whole is far more than the sum of the parts. A student (aged 7) recently suggested, after having explored the idea of the many relationships existing between numbers, that numbers were like a family, each with a connection to each of the others. This to me is an example of flowering insight that is beyond mere instruction, this is educo. Poetic understanding as the foundation of logical understanding Again, as with insight, the poetic level of understanding underpins logic, and is a sure way to provide a fertile ground for appreciation and curiosity as well as motivation to learn. Describe mathematics in a colourful, and personally tailored expressive way and it will rub off that way with vibrancy. Stale versus vibrant energy Clearly, a class with stale energy will falter and have far less momentum. Vibrancy is the responsibility of a good teacher, and is a kind of aesthetic and even spiritual discipline as much as a professional one. A model of the teaching process The teacher provides a field, like a climbing frame for the mind. Not a delivery with a one-to-one correspondence with a syllabus list, but a structure that allows for dialogue, clarification and exploration. It is necessary for teachers to be sufficiently in touch with and on top of the syllabus so that they are more in touch with the communication with students, and not chasing their tail to "get through" the material. This is cripplingly stress making and very counter-productive. Digest the syllabus fully and be spontaneously student centred. The energy field of relaxed concentration This is an essential component of any learning. Adults and children alike need this combination to feel they can expand naturally into knowing. It makes the experience so much more rewarding. How communication can be enhanced Awareness of "the other end" of teaching is essential. There is a whole universe in each student, and it is important to acknowledge that there will likely be stumbles, which are best articulated by them, and each of which may well be common to more than one student. The positives of the teaching experience It is well to share the positives of teaching in order for teachers to support each other, either in a workshop situation, or even in the common room. How to escape from syllabus racing (We can`t spend any more time on this, we have to "get through" the syllabus.) Being "imprisoned" by a syllabus is a likely experience of some teachers. But there is always a way to introduce further, more advanced material whilst covering a particular topic. The aim is to forge ahead up the generic mathematical ascent. Which parts come when is not so critical. A book chapter could become easily an entrapment, but is best seen as one point of departure which can be extended to more than itself. A fully grasped syllabus set of topics, internalised ahead of time by a teacher, and intuitively ordered so as to be a natural progression, is the best way to avoid chasing one`s tail going through so fast as to render a class ineffective. It is good to have one`s own intuitive order of progression, so that its authority and familiarity is extremely strong and clear. Then the issue of not covering "enough chapters" in time is circumvented, irrelevant. If a class or individual is really having difficulty, it will be better to teach some things really well, rather than many things badly. I once encountered a very nervous teacher, scared of not making much headway. I said to her that she should give whatever material that was practical and being absorbed, and not be so nervous of how fast that would go. That in itself makes for a more fertile soil. The aim is served by addressing syllabus and inspiration in the same breath. The challenge is to get behind a mere listed definition of the syllabus and to see the multi-connected material in such a way that the class schedule is not a trap, or fixed in its sequence of presentation. The creative spontaneous way, not a weekly chapter mapping from a textbook or exam board list,.... this will also permit adaptation to how students respond and grow. Summary: List of contrasting features of teaching: educo vs induco communication vs mere presentation insight vs memory syllabus as list vs inspiration agenda vs curiosity instilling lead forth vs stuff in rote-learning vs interaction relaxed/happy concentration vs polarisation content vs digestability stale vs vibrant list driven vs responsive delivery vs connecting syllabus racing vs dialogue 3) Why teaching fails Why does teaching fail: Lack of preparation or experience Lack of experience in communicating material interactively Inability to cope with questions in class effectively Incomplete comprehension of how to respond to individuals empathically It is very clear that academic problems are far more emotional than they are academic at root. Why are students not engaged stress in the teacher stress and low self-esteem in themselves general problems that occlude their clarity of attention teacher has been mean or putting them down, or has negative expectations Internal voice "I can`t do (eg) maths". How knowing the subject does not guarantee communicating it: My private students tell me that graduates from "oxbridge" can be impeccable mathematicians, but cannot cope with the expressed questions and feedback coming from even a small class sometimes. A workshop on this seems really essential. What is the need for private or 1-1 teaching Because schools are failing to engage every student in a meaningful way. (Private tutoring may not do that either). Because it may not be feasible to dilute teaching across a class in every session in a school week. What are the frustrating teaching experiences? This could be addressed in a workshop where a leader and other teachers may feel the emotional support necessary to open out issues confronting them. teachers` problems - hiding their bewilderment at how to present material This can also be addressed in a workshop situation. syllabus "completion" vs. effective grasp syllabus racing (We can`t spend any more time on this, we have to "get through" the syllabus.)