How to teach smart, not hard -the strategy of teamwork in classrooms and organisations

Anis Haffar Opinion Jun - 18 - 2018 , 13:16 5 minutes read

There's no such thing as a perfect parent, but there is such a thing as a great parent. Similarly, there is such a thing as a great teacher. Whenever I’ve visited basic schools to do pre-service class observations - to inform the design of an upcoming teacher training - my first ports of call are the Kindergarten (KG) One classes.

My premise is simple: If children in KG One can learn to perform ample tasks by and for themselves, what then is the excuse for students in junior high school (JHS) Three not to follow suit and be exemplary? In the same vein, there’s the need to apply smart instructional strategies across the board - from high schools through universities - to help teachers and students benefit from working smart and not hard. Life is hard as is; why make it any harder?

Teamwork

An episode comes to mind. Standing out in the hallway and peering through the window of this particular KG One class, I observed the difficulty the teacher suffered in the attempt to bring some order into the chaos. Impulsive, energetic and nimble, children at that age are not wired to sit still – much less to listen. The teacher wanted attention and so did the kids. In short, attention was demanded on both sides.

Though she had painstakingly developed her teaching and learning materials (TLMs) in the form of flash cards with various alphabets, the attempt to teach phonetics was not progressing the way she had planned.

Noticing her frustration and powerlessness, I took her aside quietly, and asked: “Isn’t there one smart kid in this room who knew the names and sounds of at least a few of the alphabets?” She said there was, and called out a bubbly kid.

We took the child aside, and got him to name and sound the alphabets drawn on the flashcards. Where there was a slight stumble we nudged him on with a correction.

The other kids were quiet, watching intently, curious about what was going on. For gender balance, we brought in two girls in supportive roles: The duty of the first was to handle the stacked cards and dish them out - one after the other - to the leader positioned in the middle. The boy was to raise each card to show the alphabet and then name and sound it off as clearly as he could. The other girl was to collect each card thereafter. We practised the routine once or twice; assured that the show could go on, we now positioned the team in front of the class to teach.

Learners in the spotlight

The teacher and I stood by the side like spectators to enjoy the children in action. Throughout the performance, you could hear a pin drop. The team had succeeded in capturing the coveted attention in a manner the teacher could only have dreamed of. The previous chaos had turned into a quiet celebration where now almost every kid wanted an opportunity to get to the front of the class to teach similarly. Why the change? The answer is simple.

First of all, though the kids could not articulate their feelings, it was clear that they were bored stiff sitting and listening to the same teacher over and over again.

Second, in life everyone craves a spot in the limelight to shine and feel good about themselves. For the objectives in a teacher’s lesson plans to be successfully achieved, there have to be allowances for the pupils to be in the driver’s seats often, to have a shared responsibility and take charge of their own learning.

Every brain in game

Steve Jobs’ presentations have been recognised as classics. Just as Jobs was driven by the notion that our brains crave variety and don’t pay attention to boring things, teachers’ instructional objectives must “Let every brain in the game.” In other words, others must feel good about being active participants in the learning process by adding something of themselves to the whole enterprise and own parts of the group successes.

Almost at any level in successful organisations, there are the visionaries or strategists, on one hand; and at the other are the champions who inspire and lead each individual in the teams. Success is not a one-man show dominated by “a sage on the stage”. Teachers must see themselves in that first category promoting the general mission and not just themselves like dictators do. They need to have that discipline and step back often and reflect if they are moving in the right direction, and take a deserved satisfaction in knowing that everybody is allowed to participate.

Humility and self-awareness

Really great leaders know that they can’t do it all by themselves and are keenly aware of what I often caution teachers about – “the slippery slope.” One may know 99 per cent of anything, but it is that awful slippery 1% that causes the fall of many people destined to be great otherwise. Also great teachers are given an assurance that learners can emotionally connect with them because they trust each other in a collegial fashion.

The best leaders are the ones that get the best out of others. They figure things out together with the people under their purview and in the process build that reservoir of loyalty.