9/22/2021; Week 2: Response to "Is the Great American Teacher Dead?"

      A funny thing just happened. I started to write: "When I think about the article 'Is the Great American Teacher Dead?' (Ivers, 2012),  I think about a teacher named Brother Ivers, to whom I was exposed last semester in my TESOL 101 and 102 classes. When we were assigned to watch his videos, I quickly learned that they were going to be entertaining, funny, memorable, and above all, I would remember what he taught." What to my surprise when I went to cite this article with the author's name and date and realized it was he, Brother Ivers, who wrote the very article which I was citing! 

       Bro. Ivers lives what he preaches. His students are completely engaged at all times, both in the live classroom and, speaking for myself, while watching his recorded videos. He created a list of some of the qualities a good teacher must have, and I remember noticing these attributes while watching his videos. I noticed attention paid to the following: aesthetics, dance, imagery, jokes, play, and rhythm. He obviously also finds the following characteristics important: "positive student-teacher relationship", "a good delivery", "encouragement of deep thinking", "enthusiasm and zest for the topic", and "application to meaningful real world problems". He is a teacher I try to emulate, and as I find success in applying first his example, and now his written pedagogical teachings, I have seen that my students really respond positively and can feel my love for them. It's wonderful to hear students laughing at and with me and with each other as I use humor, playful teasing, and zest and enthusiasm for the subject matter. 

     One of the sections of the article I found very disturbing was the statistic that one in five university students are seriously considering suicide! Having been married to a man who ended his life here on earth by way of suicide, this was a devastating revelation. If this is indeed the case, there is truly something wrong with our educational system. For any teacher to make a student feel that much shame and humiliation, which, as we read in the article, can cause serious health problems, this is something that he or she will be held accountable for in futures days, either here on earth or at the judgement day. This leads me to seriously evaluate how I teach and to ponder if I have ever made a student feel embarrassment or shame. All teachers need to do this kind of self-reflection. 

     On a lighter note, if we can truly study and internalize Brother Iver's article, and apply concepts such as: Transformative education, metacognition, cultural self-examination, especially in the case of we who are teaching ELL students, invitational education and delivery dynamics, we can greatly improve our students' experiences in our classrooms and make our teachings more meaningful and memorable.

Citations:

Ivers, J. J. (2012). Is the Great American Teacher Dead?: Principles to resurrect meaningful, effective, and consciousness raising instruction. Journal of Invitational Theory and Practice, 18, 44-51.


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