How Novice Teachers can Succeed with Adolescents
This article clearly tells us that the ability to successfully teach adolescents require more than content knowledge. The teacher must know the students. The writer focuses on two very important skills:
-Social Insight
-Withitness
Social insight is not derived from a textbook. This very special skill refers to the culture of the adolescent. There are several recommendations for teachers to achieve a better understanding of the culture and two simple suggestions include watching current movies and listening to current music. Other activities include relating subject matter to students’ experiences, knowing the temperature of the students, being comfortable with and having the ability to relate to the students.
The other term discussed is withitness. Its proponent, Kounin, refers to withitness as the teacher being aware of what’s going on in the classroom at all times and in all places. It requires that the teacher become skilled at handling more than one situation at the same time. Students can sense when the teacher is not using withitness. When a teacher is not utilizing withitness, the students seize the opportunity to create classroom disturbances which impact negatively on the classroom management system.
The article used concrete examples to show how the lack of insight and withitness can gravely undermine the classroom management system. These examples are obvious indicators that the novice teacher has to perfect these skills in order to be successful.
The implications for the classroom are evident. A teacher’s knowledge of subject area is unimportant if he or she is unable to make a connection with the students. The ability to connect to the students is key to the teacher’s ability in capturing the interest of their students. Furthermore, the teacher who understands the students’ climate and what is happening in the classroom is better able to respond proactively. With these understandings, it is highly probable that the classroom would run more smoothly.