The Unpolished Apple

THE UNPOLISHED APPLE

By

Ronald G. Stover, Ph.D.

SMASHWORDS EDITION

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PUBLISHED BY:

Ronald G. Stover, Ph.D. on Smashwords

The Unpolished Apple

Copyright ©1986, 2007, 2013

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This book is a work of non-fiction. However, any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

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This book is dedicated to my mother and father, who taught me the meaning of perseverance, hard work, and honesty.

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The surest sign of wisdom is a man’s ability to teach what he knows. – Aristotle –

Leading is a central part of the teacher’s role, which involves working with students to achieve educational goals. To a large extent, a teacher’s leadership ability – that is, his or her ability to motivate, influence, direct and communicate with students – will determine the teacher’s effectiveness.

This book deals with how the teacher, without formal training, can improve their techniques so that their performance and satisfaction will be increased. Teachers cannot lead unless students are motivated to follow them.

We must realize that technique is not the only influence on the teacher’s performance level. The individual’s abilities and his or her understanding of what behaviors are necessary to achieve high performance are two other factors involved in the performance level.

The teacher must also understand that there is more to learning than just the intellect of the student. The ability to learn concerns the whole person. The learning process involves the emotions, the body, and the will. When the teacher begins to plan his or her procedures to achieve the overall goals, they should consider all aspects of learning. Without this consideration, the teacher may be destined for failure, for the student who is emotionally distressed or who is determined to undermine the teacher’s authority will not perform intellectually as the teacher intends.

Rather than an intellect to be trained, a student should be regarded as a person to be respected, nurtured, strengthened, and stimulated.

I feel strongly that it is the concepts of teaching that should be stressed. Motivation, influence, direction and communication will ultimately determine the teacher’s success. I also realize that the abilities and behavioral disciplines will vary from teacher to teacher. A solid background in the basic concepts of leadership and training will provide teachers with the basic understanding they need to adapt quickly to the various classroom problems that they are sure to encounter.

My hope is that this will be an introduction to an exciting and fulfilling career.

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THE UNPOLISHED APPLE

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ROLES AND RELATIONSHIPS 3

EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP/EFFECTIVE TEACHING 4

IDENTIFYING YOUR WEAKNESSES 8

JOB DESCRIPTION 11

CLASSROOM AND SCHOOL POLICIES 11

THE PLANNING PROCESS 14

TENSION IN THE CLASSROOM 15

DECISION MAKING 17

THE IMPORTANCE OF PATIENCE 19

A GUIDE FOR HANDLING DISPUTES 22

PUT A STOP TO RUMORS 25

HANDLING COMPLAINTS 29

HANDLING PROBLEM STUDENTS 33

STUDENT PROBLEMS 36

THE VALUE OF LISTENING 39

BODY LANGUAGE 41

GIVING INSTRUCTIONS 43

PRAISE AND CRITICISM 45

THE FINAL ANALYSIS 47

ASSIGNMENT #1 48

ASSIGNMENT #2 49

ASSIGNMENT #3 50

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ROLES AND RELATIONSHIPS

In the educational systems of today, the teacher has a variety of roles to play in order for the goals of the course to be accomplished. But, before a teacher can begin to fill these roles to the best of their ability, he or she must understand the overall function of their position. This function is to help a student learn subjects, by imparting knowledge to him by setting up a situation in which the student can and will learn effectively. After realizing the function, the teacher can then look at the roles.

In school, teachers perform a variety of social roles related to students, and these roles help to define the nature of teacher-student relationships. The teacher is, for example, a mediator of learning. Standing between student and the subject matter to be learned, the teacher seeks to bring the two together. This role is the one in which teachers tend to feel the most comfortable with students. As an examiner, the teacher evaluates the work and progress of students in terms of stated and implied standards and objectives. The teacher is also a disciplinarian who is expected to promote conduct that is acceptable within the norms of the school. Sometimes the teacher is a confidante to students, sharing their trust and perhaps performing the functions of a parent counselor. The teacher is expected to be a surrogate of middle class moralities, representing the community in the classroom in upholding moral values and norms. The teacher is an academic adviser who assists students in planning programs and in solving problems associated with learning. Finally, the teacher may take on the role of a bureaucrat who insists on rigid adherence to rules, forms and routines.

One aspect that a teacher must consider when fulfilling these roles is that there may come a time when a conflict will arise between them. Such could be the case of the disciplinarian role conflicting with that of the confidante to the students. Also, the independent and creative scholar will tend to conflict with that of the bureaucrat.

As is the case with any certain aspect of the teaching technique, one must learn when and how to use his or her roles for the most efficient and pleasant experience of both teacher and student. The when and how will become easier as the teacher gains experience through classroom situations and learns to combine his or her roles into the best possible mixture.

Let us now look at the teacher-administrator relationship with the most important being that between the teacher and the school administrator. The leadership efforts of the administrator can have a significant effect on instruction.

The school administrator’s leadership has a positive impact on teacher morale and performance. If the administrator were to be scored on their leadership ability, it would relate to the classroom performance of the teachers. The higher the leadership score of the administrator the more likely are the teachers to do everything possible to motivate students, provide opportunities to go beyond the minimum demands of assigned