Carol gave this fantastic plenary at TESOL France this weekend.

She started her plenary with the story of a woman who, furious that her plumber had charged her £50 for tapping on a pipe, asked for a detailed invoice…

INVOICE – tapping on the pipe = £5

• knowing where to tap £45

I just loved this metaphor of the teacher’s job! I also enjoyed her remark about how we don’t suffer from information overload, but more from filter failure.

Carol added a fifth element to this conscious learning model:

-complacence.

She went on to talk about how teachers are 20^th century beings, teaching in a 19^th century environment, to 21^st century students, and described the change in teaching methods as a glide from “sage on the stage” to “guide on the side”.

Carol then presented her teacher development wheel, which looked something like this:

M-MINDSET

The teacher’s mindset about how they see themselves as a teacher, but also developing a growth mindset with students by encouraging creative thinking.

R-RAPPORT & RELATIONSHIP

Matching and mirroring student behaviour in the classroom to create a positive relationship that is essential for learning to occur.

E-ENGAGEMENT & FLOW

She showed us this diagram:

Where we can see high challenge and use of skills is necessary for flow, high but not impossibly high, a difficult balance to get right, especially in a group class.

S-SCAFFOLDING & SUPPORT

For both students and teachers

I-IMPACT

“They won’t remember what you said but they’ll always remember how you made them feel”, this quote from Maia Angelou is essential in my opinion, especially in the teen classroom.

L-LANGUAGE OF LEARNING

Quantify and describe learning, of the students and of the teacher.

E-EXPECTATIONS

Beware the self-fulfilling prophecy and always ‘demand high’ from all your students.

C-COLLABORATION

Between teachers, between teachers and students. Teaching cannot occur in a vacuum, nor can teacher development.

A very well-crafted and thought-provoking talk.