It is often said that teachers take on many roles. As Diane Larsen-Freeman and Marti Anderson point out, “the work of teaching is simultaneously mental and social. It is also physical, emotional, practical, behavioral, political, experiential, historical, cultural, spiritual, and personal (2011, p. ix)”. Jeremy Harmer states that, “we are called upon to assume a number of different roles in the classroom, depending on what we hope our students will achieve and also on what they actually do. (2015, p. 116)”. He also lists some roles such as controller, monitor and evidence gatherer, prompter and editor, resource and tutor and finally, organiser/task-setter. Jim Scrivener (2011, p. 17), while quoting Adrian Underhill, suggests that there may be three broad categories of teaching styles: the explainer, the involver and the enabler. A teacher trainer might also be put into a category according to his/her style of supervision. According to Jerry G. Gebhard (1984, p. 501), these styles of supervision are: 1) directive, 2) alternative, 3) collaborative, 4) non-directive , and 5) creative.
Are teachers and teacher trainers leaders? According to Brené Brown, “leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential (2018, p. 24).” As teachers and teacher trainers, we often take the role of finding and developing potential in people. According to Brené, we are leaders and it is a bold decision to take on this role. “Existe um milhão de assentos baratos no mundo atualmente, todos ocupados por pessoas que nunca serão corajosas na vida, mas gastarão toda a energia que têm oferecendo conselhos e julgando aqueles que ousam. Suas únicas formas de contribuir são com crítica, cinismo e alarmismo (BROWN, 2018, p. 41)”.
It is quite easy to jump into conclusions when it comes to criticising what teachers do and an environment that allows this kind of criticism to run free is bound to make teachers sick or even leave the profession.
Se a cultura em nossa escola, organização, nosso local de culto ou mesmo em nossa família exige usar uma armadura por conta de problemas como racismo, preconceito de classe, machismo ou qualquer manifestação de liderança fundamentada em medo, não podemos esperar um comprometimento pleno. Da mesma forma, quando nossa organização premia comportamentos que incentivam o uso de armaduras, como culpa, humilhação, cinismo, perfeccionismo e estoicismo emocional, não podemos esperar como resultado um trabalho inovador. Não se pode crescer e contribuir plenamente usando uma armadura (BROWN, 2018, p. 36)
If we are leaders, it means we may define our path to embrace courage and vulnerability and to live and lead according to our values. I dare you to be bold and embrace the call to be a leader.
When we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don’t see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others. We don’t avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into vulnerability when it’s necessary to do good work.
References:
BROWN, Brené. Dare to lead: brave work. tough conversations. whole hearts. New York: Random House, 2018.
GEBHARD, Jerry G. Five models of supervision. TESOL Quarterly, [S. l.], v. 18, n. 3, p. 501-514, Sep. 1984. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3586717. Accessed on: May 10.
HARMER, Jeremy. The practice of English language teaching. 5th ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education Limited, 2015.
LARSEN-FREEMAN, Diane; ANDERSON, Marti. Techniques and principles in language teaching. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
SCRIVENER, Jim. Learning teaching: the essential guide to English language teaching. 3rd Edition. Oxford: Macmillan Education, 2011.
Jonas Ishikawa é um eterno aprendiz que atua na área da educação há mais de 8 anos. Já foi professor de inglês e hoje atua como formador de professores.
