In Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” Jacques utters philosophic ally: “All the World is a stage, and all men and women are mere players. They have their exits and entrances”.
The question arises whether we should include teachers among these players. The author Dr. Robert T. Tauber, in his book “Acting Lessons for Teachers: Using Performance Skills in the Classroom,” asserts that teachers are indeed players in their “version of a stage” where pupils are the audience. Tauber, perhaps, drops the hint that the onus is on the educators to optimize their effective communication with the students in the classroom between their entrances and exits.
Indeed, like actors, teachers in their domain are concerned with conveying a message and leaving a profound impact of the message on the impressionable minds of the children.
In the book mentioned above, the co-authors Robert T. Tauber and Cathy Sargent Mester have given elaborate instructions about using acting techniques that can empower a teacher to grab the students’ attention so that the message gets through successfully.
Today, the modern generation sneers at the utility of the classroom teaching-learning method as obsolete at seminars and workshops. Therefore, educators in this field must figure out intelligent ways to compete with the growing popularity of online teaching and the various “media” vying for the student’s attention.
No matter how knowledgeable the teacher is who comes prepared to deliver the lesson, they can’t afford to be mechanical or monotonous in presenting the topic under discussion. A boring presentation, though packed with methodically arranged points of information on any topic, could benefit only a few focused boys and girls present in the situation.
So, the use of acting techniques can help in a great way to engage the maximum number of children in the classroom.
However, the teacher can get away with superficial knowledge of the topic under discussion, trying to use cheap dramatic antics to impress the students. One cannot befool the students for long with impressive gestures and unimpressive knowledge of the subject matter explained in the class. It simply means that an educator must bring enthusiasm to their teaching style. Here enthusiasm implies physical and vocal animation, role-playing, and suspense and surprise to awaken the students’ attention and hold them until the end.
Such enthusiasm is naturally generated by the teacher’s passion for the subject they teach and their constant exploration of its new facts.
A successful teacher always finds fulfillment in sharing those new facts, thus, stirring up the students’ imagination through their voices, somewhat like actors, thus creating a meaningful interaction in the classroom.
Teachers and actors do share common goals. Firstly, the chief mission of both is to capture and hold attention. Teachers must remember that attention is a prerequisite to learning. Secondly, in both professions, it is crucial to ensure that the listeners can perceive clearly and focus on the most salient features of their messages.
Both use their voice and non-verbal expressions to direct the listener’s attention to the key points. Besides, actors and teachers intend to present their material so uniquely that their messages become permanent.
Teaching is a performance skill and can be effective if it is entertaining. The honing of one’s performance skills as a school teacher becomes indispensable at a time when students find movies, concerts, live shows, iPods, the internet, and varied other influences. The quality of the instruction becomes naturally effective as the “teacher self” is developed by using proven performance skills in the classroom.
Hence, planning a lesson means planning the content and the desirable means of delivering the content. Yet their psychological needs determine how to deliver them to the pupils. A teacher must figure out by observing their mood and disposition, which may vary from one situation to another. Their performance technique must vary according to the demands of the children.
As no two live stage performances of an actor can be similar because the nature of the audience determines each of them, so is the case with a teacher.
Interestingly, the teacher can use a classroom as a stage by rearranging the space to maximize student visibility. There should be enough space to be flexible enough to use varied teaching and learning strategies: Physical movements, tools, and artifacts that allow the user to place emphasis, demonstrate and recapture distracted attention.
As actors on the stage, educators should also work on perfecting their non-verbal techniques. Also, like actors proficient in audience adaptation, teachers must adapt to the reality of their classroom environment.
If the academic principles followed in schools need to perpetuate their stories of success for the years to come, ancient classroom teaching must come alive with freshness. There should be dynamic teaching that encourages learning. Teaching is an inspiration! It must illuminate the learners’ minds as the performance of a great actor does that of the audience.
A good teacher must have an in-depth knowledge of the subject matter to be taught in the classroom and acquire the skill to deliver it successfully to the students through effective teaching. Nothing can be more demotivating to young learners than a monotonous teaching style.
The message conveyed to the students through teaching should be accomplished with passionate enthusiasm to create interest in the subject matter. A teacher must take up the challenge to hold the children’s attention in the face of varied media interests, which tend to deviate their attention from classroom teaching.
A modern-day teacher must have dynamic body language because teaching is an inspired profession. They must be able to arouse the curiosity of the class. Indeed, exciting presentations through non-verbal communication skills, voice quality, and role-playing can improve the classroom atmosphere.
A teacher must try to innovate a few exciting performance methods to fulfill the listeners’ unspoken needs in various classrooms as an actor must discover new techniques of presentation to satisfy that of the audience at different places. These techniques can change according to the needs of other classes.
