1. Jim Smith forced me to write it
“Have you ever had the niggling worry that the more effort you put into your lessons, the worse things become? Have you ever thought it wrong that you are the one crawling home on your knees at the end of the day whilst the students seem to find a new lease of energy as soon as the bell goes? Does it ever cross your mind how everyone else you know seems to have a life and you don’t?
Ever wondered if the hours and hours you spend every day on your job could be better time spent? Ever thought there must be a better way?
… Ever wondered what would happen in your classroom if you stopped teaching?”
Jim Smith’s book “The Lazy Teacher’s Handbook. How your students learn more when you teach less” arrived yesterday and rocked my world.
I started reading it at about 21.00. Initially, I put aside half an hour for a quick flick through the introductory blah-blah but when I next looked at the clock, it was 23.30.
I’m not going to quote long passages from the book, firstly because this would probably violate some copyright law or another and secondly, if you have the chance to buy, beg or steal your own copy of this book, you should. I found the book so eye-opening that I ordered another book called “The Big Book of Independent Thinking” by Ian Gilbert & al for a further dose of inspiration. (Any book that includes a rough translation of a Chinese saying stating “Whoever stands with one foot in the past and one foot in the future pisses on today” is guaranteed to be interesting).
2. Teaching esl is my job
In fact, to be more exact, I teach English and German in Germany at a college of further education in the Ruhr area. My students are usually trainees (electrical, metal, chemical engineering with IT thrown in for good measure) on three-year training courses. Some of my students attend school in the evenings three times a week for a duration of two years so that they can attain their Fachhochschulreife which can best be described as vocational A-levels covering English, Maths, German and a technical subject such as electrical or metal engineering or chemistry.
3. We teachers need to stick together
Once in a while, I feel like standing up (especially at parties when you are asked “what you do”) and saying: My name is (insert name here) and I am a teacher” in true AA style.
A lot of my colleagues, usually men, do not mention their profession while on holiday. They prefer to call themselves engineers. From my point of view this is perfectly understandable. Teachers in Germany tend to be seen as lazy civil servants who spend their mornings at school and then go home in the early afternoon to play tennis. If a teacher notices another teacher going home relatively early in the day, he/she will usually ask (jealously), “What, you going home already?!” Typical reply “Yes, but I still have to mark papers/prepare lessons/etc., etc.” This reply is then repeated one hour later by the same teacher when he/she meets his neighbour.
This need to show that teachers really DO work is not only felt at school or in the neighbourhood. Many German teachers, especially those who come out of the pedagogical closet when on holiday while talking to complete strangers, feel the need to explain why teachers are not lazy, exemplify how much work they have to do, discuss why the education system so often fails, and provide details of the daily stress caused by financial restraints, staff shortages, etc., etc.
It’s time that we puff out our chests, smile and say “Well, actually, most of the time we do a good job.”
4. I want to enjoy teaching (again)
If teachers in Germany are generally viewed as lazy, is it then really that wise to write a blog discussing strategies of how to become a lazier teacher?
Now, that depends on what you mean by “lazy”, doesn’t it? For me, lazy doesn’t mean I don’t want to work anymore, it means I want to work differently. I want to step back and allow my students to work effectively. I want them to learn from each other instead of the pupils expecting a teacher to drill a hole in their skulls, stick a funnel in and then pour all the knowledge the pupils need for life, the universe and everything into their heads to fill the space between their ears.
5. I want to learn from others
This blog will document my quest to become a lazy teacher, it will describe the successes, the failures, the joys and the woes of an average ESL teacher on a mission.
I welcome comments and ideas from other ESL teachers around the world. It would be great if we could collect strategies to make teaching a lazier, less stressful profession for most of the time.
Less teaching, more learning 