Assistant teacher course/Taking the view of the teacher

Acceptance test
This phase of the course aims to make the participants better understand the view of a teacher.

For the following event the course instructors should be prepared to send in participants from another group with the task to hold a short lecture in front of one group while the group will send participants to the other group, one after the other.

The participants should be given about 30 minutes for the preparation of their theater performance. The preparation should contain one or two dry runs with a course instructor as the lecturer. To increase seriousness the course instructors could make remarks that this was an acceptance test, merely failing to mention that there was almost no way to actually fail the test. (Theoretically unsuitable candidates could be removed from the course at any time, the acceptance test would be merely a prominent occasion)

The lecturers should be given tasks that require writing on a board, talking for several minutes and developing a dialog with the class. The recommended duration is five to seven minutes for each lecturer and not more than 95 minutes for the whole event. To make the task more challenging for the lecturer the participants should wear name badges with fictional names, so even known participants have to be addressed with the name on the badge, not the actual name.

Behavior patterns of teachers
The course instructors can begin by showing some typical teacher strategies and behaviors and asking the participants to give their view what a behavior is meant to accomplish and where it succeeds or where it fails.

It is an exaggeration to categorize every behavior pattern as a pedagogical pattern or anti-pattern so the participants should be asked to compile a list of behavior patterns they know and to mention the advantages or disadvantages of each pattern from the point of view of the teacher. The participants should also give each pattern a grade, depending on how successful the pattern is and describe the traits or skills that make the pattern succeed, if the pattern is likely to work for one teacher but not necessarily for another teacher.

During the following discussion participants can be asked to enact their patterns occasionally. This can increase understanding and involvement of the other participants and can give the unit a more relaxed atmosphere.