Where have they taught?
OLD COLLEGIANS’ FEATURE
Peter Vos insists that,“ Listen, listen, listen and relationships, relationships, relationships, are important areas to develop. Sometimes you need to be innovative and flexible to get the best out of people.”
David English says his best lessons were often those he hadn’ t been able to prepare properly. To fall back on experience, understanding and knowledge is no bad thing. Learning doesn’ t stop when you finish the lesson.“ It’ s the ability to inculcate the desire to learn in your students which makes a good teacher.”
Over time, John Beck says,“ I’ ve learned the value of patience, tolerance to diversity – but still always insisting on high standards of behaviour and good manners.”
Anna GIBBS( Middlemore, 1994-95) says,“ No matter how much planning goes into a lesson it will never pan out as you planned.”
Having learnt that you can’ t please everyone all the time, Peter Kay says that being a leader has positives and negatives; the need to manage multiple personalities with multiple agendas is a challenge. Like so many professions, he has found the need to work smart to achieve work / life balance.
So has the teacher-student relationship changed over time?
Anna Gibbs says,“ The teaching process is constantly evolving as different fads come and go. At present there seems to be a real drive towards facilitated learning which some perceive as being a more interactive process.”
The group agrees that the introduction of computers – now iPads – in classrooms has had a major impact. As tools for research and used wisely, John Beck says they can be tremendously useful for the reinforcement of learning and understanding.
But there’ s a downside, as Peter Vos points out,“ students are adept at accessing this information, but they are not necessarily doing it with discernment and a moral compass” and goes on,“ Students live in a very visual world and this has to be reflected in our teaching. They need good honest feedback, shown the relevance of what they are doing and most importantly‘ feed forward’ – what do I need to improve or get ahead. In essence, students have more input in their learning today rather than being passive receptacles in the learning process, which was probably the case when I first started in teaching.”
For Peter Kay, the teacher’ s role is to help students ask the right questions, have the skills to acquire the right knowledge and then teach a wide variety of methods in which they can present the knowledge. The collaboration between students is far more significant; the challenge is for them to complete the task together.
“ Another enormous component of teacher-student interaction, which Independent Schools have always had but is more recent for many state schools, is the inclusion of values within the ethos of the school,” adds Peter.
Asked what a more confident, challenging, independentlyminded generation meant in the classroom, some disagreed it was the case.
Anna Gibbs says,“ I don’ t know that the current generation are all those things! In fact, I think that students still face the same challenges that previous generations faced and yet are less independently-minded, due to being more sheltered from risk-taking during their childhood.”
Andrew Massey also begs to differ. Noting that the experiences of current students might be different from earlier generations, he says if anything current students are more conscious of respect than their parents were.
David English also questions the fact, noting that science is a discipline that has always required exploration and enquiry – regardless of the students.
Making content relevant to the students has never been more important, says David O’ Halloran. Students are more questioning and for the most part want input into their learning, which ultimately will create engaged, connected young people.
“ Teachers are being told they’ re wrong more frequently”, says Peter Kay, going on to say that“ respect has to be earned; it’ s not an automatic right”. He suggests there are so many ways one can acquire and present information; the teacher’ s way is not always the best. He’ s also aware that creativity is far more evident in the classroom.
How do you motivate students and make them want to succeed, even reach higher standards?
“ As a teacher”, says David O’ Halloran,“ I can offer support to get them where they want to go, but I am always conscious that as young adults they must develop the desire themselves.” He adds,“ Sharing personal stories and analogies can
Where have they taught?
The careers of these Old Collegians are shown in the sequence in which they have served; some have held both teaching and headmaster positions, others have returned to a school a second time.
John Beck- Waiheke Area School; Takapuna Grammar School; Eton College, Windsor, UK; King’ s College
David English- King’ s College; Marlborough College, Wiltshire, UK; King’ s College; Nga Tawa Diocesan School
Anna Gibbs- Mount Albert Grammar School; Jewish Free School, London, UK; Diocesan School for Girls; King’ s College
Peter Kay- Havelock North Intermediate; St John’ s the Evangelist School, London, UK; Haileybury School, Windsor, UK; King’ s School; Te Mata Primary School Havelock North; Medbury School, Christchurch
John Lewis- King’ s College; Eton College; Geelong Grammar School, Victoria, Australia; Eton College
Andrew Massey- Waiuku College; Papakura High School; King’ s College
David O’ Halloran- King’ s College
Peter Vos- Remuera Intermediate School; Dilworth School
help students open their eyes to the possibilities around them.”
David English says he has always been an advocate for co-operative learning with students working in groups.“ It had lots of benefits but is often severely limited by the examination requirements. How many scientists work on their own – most research these days is done in teams …?”
The panel agrees in the principles of giving students greater control of their own learning – choosing the topic, acquiring the knowledge and deciding to present it – along with making lessons relevant to them.
“ Provide lots of positive feedback, but also include the scaffold as relevant feed forward for them to have for next steps,” says Peter Kay.
AUTUMN 2013 • KING’ S COURIER 39