by Joseph Wardy

Created on: April 22, 2010   Last Updated: April 23, 2010

The word teacher contains the word teach, but the role of the teacher to teach can be an oversimplification of the educator's role. As a retired teacher in the public school system who was tenured at both middle and high school, I will differentiate the different roles of the elementary, middle and secondary teachers. The perspective will begin at the elementary level:

* As an elementary teacher, I feel the teacher's role to to lead the children on the path of learning how to love learning. So, in a sense, the most gifted of teachers are at this level. The word teach at this level is dominant in that the kids are young with virtually no experience to offer in the classroom. The class is predicated on the creativity of the teacher's lesson plan coupled with the teacher's capacity to plan flawlessly in order to maximize the teaching/ learning process.

* Having earned tenure at the middle school level, the teachers here are posed with other types of challenges. Here, kids are old enough to be disrespectful, but too young to be mature. The hormones are out of control and the attention span is weakened,. Teaching traditionally is a nightmare as kids today are products of the computer age and seek instant gratification. The average attention span for kids this age is one minute per chronological age or about 12 minutes. The key to success here is to clearly explain an objective the first minute and then spend the next forty four minutes on four to six topics that balances teacher explanation with various activities. The teacher acts as a guide and coach at this level.

At the high school level, the teacher has an opportunity to some extent to tap into the experience of the student by creating a learning environment of partnership. This approach the teacher is not as the all knowing but as a senior partner. The key to the class dynamics here is for the teacher not to always  teach traditionally but to create a role as a facilitator of learning. This is accomplished by dialog, discussion, debate, inquiry and group activities. Review can be creative by introducing fun activities like Jeopardy and Survivor. By enlisting the involvement of the student, the learning switches from the passive learning of lecture of the dynamics of give and take.

The definition of teacher is to teach at the elementary level, coach in middle school and facilitate in high school!

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