What Roles can Teachers Play in the Classroom？

1.Introduction

This paper concentrates on analyzing and discussing a range of teachers’roles in the classroom.First，this paper will present the type of classrooms I observed；second，research methods used to collect data will be discussed；last，an attempt will be made to analyze the data that I have collected.The research question of this paper is what roles teachers can play in the classroom.

2.Context

I visited the school on 6th and 7th December 2010.The school I observed is located in Leith area of Edinburgh.The quality learning environment and advanced teaching facilities made a deep impression on me.It should be noted that thirty percent of the students are non-native speakers.The diversity of the children is one characteristic of this school.There are eight primary classes from P1 to P7 and a nursery class in this school.I observed the classes of P3 and P4 during my visits.There are twelve children in P3 classroom and twenty children in P4 classroom.I have observed several subjects including reading，history，mathematics，music and P.E.class.

3.Methods

It is a qualitative research in which data was collected by observation.Observation as data collection technique provides opportunities to directly document program activities，processes and outcomes without relying on people’s willingness or ability to provide information.It is a valuable tool in program development and teacher’s professional growth.“An essential component of the observation process is the immediate recording of the behaviours observed”（Boehm and Weinberg，1987）.I used observation schedules for recording data and a watch for timekeeping.There are many advantages of observing and adopting observation schedules.First，observers can easily switch their attention between different individuals or different aspect of events；second，it can adapt them rapidly to respond to what is going on（Croll，1986）；third，by doing observation schedules，the observer is able to focus on the specific purpose of the observation and note down the important classroom behaviours.The drawbacks with the use of the observation are obvious.People will perform better when they know they are being observed.Observer’s personal bias might affect data analysis and observation result（Hopkins，1993）.Although observers can use observation schedules to focus on targeted classroom behaviours or data，they may miss other important events or not be able to capture the flow of behavior（Boehm and Weinberg，1987）.

4.Discussion

I developed the research question to provide a conceptual framework，which is helpful to organize the project and give it direction and coherence.Punch（2009）claims that “research question have great value in bringing the research back on track in those situations when complications or side issues threaten to take it off course.” The questions lead me to concentrate on the topic.From the observation，it seems that teachers play a range of roles：the monitor，the director，the instructor，the presenter，the helper and so on，and which role teacher plays depends on different tasks or particular methods.This paper focuses on two significant roles：as a manager in managing classroom learning and as a motivator in stimulate students to work actively.

The teacher is a manager who manages the learning process in classroom.In the observation process，I paid more attention to how the teacher dealt with the behaviour of particular students.I observed many off-task behaviours including refusing to participate in class activities，sitting in silence，failing to bring materials and so on.For example：in a reading class，the teacher explained the rules of how to capitalize words to the children.When she stood with her back towards students to write some words in the chalkboard，she heard some students talking among themselves.She said “stop，boys，listen to me carefully.” However，she failed to attract their attention and they were still talking.She ignored them for several minutes before trying to stop them again.It is inappropriate to ignore the students’off-task behaviour without taking actions because teachers have responsibility to keep students engage in the lecture.It is necessary for teachers to lead the students to supplant the off-task with on-task behaviour（Cangelosi，1988）.Otherwise students would generalize that teachers do not care their misbehaviours in the classroom.A similar issue took place in the other class I observed.A teacher was lecturing to her class；one of the students began looking around and speaking to other children.When the teacher found this child’s behaviour annoying and distracting others，she systematically dealt with this nonparticipant.First，She used eye contact while continuing to speak；then she walked past his desks and gently trapped him on the shoulder to make the boy return to the lesson.After class，the teacher talked with the boy and investigated the reason.The second teacher’s response to off-task behaviour is more effective than the first one because she moves through stages in dealing with a particular students.Richards and Renandya（2002）demonstrate “Experienced teachers have a scale of responsible to off-task behaviour，which helps them decide whether to ignore or attend to the problems.”

The teacher is a motivator who uses many strategies to enhance motivation.Hedge（2000）states that the most useful perspective for the teacher is to focus on creating successful experiences that will enhance motivation.Wajnryb（1992）demonstrates that the teacher usually motivates students through extrinsic rewards.Rewards can build up students’confidence and self-esteem and stimulate students’interests.One class I observed was a lower-grade class，and most of the students were seven or eight years old.From the observation，I noted that children preferred to receive positive comments and rewards.For instance，if students performed well，teacher would give a smiley face on their books.After they got five smiley faces，the teacher could draw a red flower on the evaluation chart of the wall.The students who achieved teacher’s praise or received smiley face performed extremely excited and enthusiastic in the classroom.Spaulding（1992）claims “the students are likely to perceive their teacher as directing and controlling their learning when the teacher rewards their good effort and performances，when the teacher emphasizes grades and other forms of evaluation.”

For anther examples，it was a mathematics lesson that focused on doing exercises and reviewing the knowledge that is taught in the precious lesson，and no new knowledge was integrated.The teacher first gave students some exercises to do by themselves in twenty minutes.Then she asked them to report their answers one by one.If anyone who did all his answers right，they would get a smiley face as a reward.When students were working on their own，I observed that two children charted in small voice and one drew pictures.Although the teacher used the rewards to motivate students，but it seems that students disliked spending a long time in doing such insipid exercise and the classroom atmosphere is inactive.After the teacher was aware of the situation，she took the students to the computer room.She guided students to log in the school computer system and helped them find the resources.The task was also to practise what they had learned last lesson.However，these exercises were very interesting，which combined computer games with the previous knowledge.All the students engaged in the activity and they were interested in doing exercise by game patterns.It is known that if teachers use the computer correctly，it has a highly motivating effect on students learning.（Barker，1998）.As we know，effective learning in the classroom relies on teachers’ability to stimulate student’s interest.Entwistle（1998）suggests that effective teaching methods are based on teachers’understanding of the factors that influence student motivation.Barker illustrates（1998）that “teacher can encourage student motivation by providing learning environments and supporting infrastructures that are conductive to successful learning activities.” Here the teacher presented task in a motivating way which made learning process stimulating and enjoyable.Besides rewards and games，the teachers used various ways to motivate students to work actively.The teachers preferred to praise and encourage children such as：“well done”，“good job” “excellent” “perfect” and so on.Hopkins（1993）asserts that the effective praise not only provides the values of students’behaviours and competence but also fosters their desirable attributions.Teachers adopt other activities to stimulate students’interest such as：role-play，group work，interview and so on.

5.Conclusion

This paper was intended to discuss a range of teachers’roles in the classroom by analyzing observation data.It emphasizes two important roles involving manager and motivator.The analysis of how the teacher dealt with the off-task behavious and how to effectively enhance motivation can help teachers pay attention to these issues in the future.It has to be acknowledged that this study just focused on teachers’roles in the classroom.Further research should focus on both teachers’and learner’role in the classroom.I will explore this topic not merely by observation method to collect data but also by case study，interview，questionnaire and so on.

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