Michael Cullup: SETTING OBJECTIVES
As far as teaching is concerned, questions like ‘ Why am I doing this?’ and ‘What is the purpose of it all?’ are essential. It simply isn’t good enough just to keep going without some kind of assessment from time to time about what we are exactly tryung to do.
It’s possible to spend a whole teaching career with objectives which are little more than external routines. Normally it does, and should result in clear syllabuses and schemes of work, so that everyone involved knows where they are going.
But, of course, life is not just as simple and clear cut as we would sometimes like it to be. Gradually, the tidy structure, within which the teachers and students work, begins to break down. For various reasons. The born rebels begin to rebel, and those who might otherwise be patient are affected by external in fluences. And one of the signs a developing teacher is the realization that all this is really a façade.
We are faced with particularly awkward mixtures of individuals, faulty equipment or equipment which cannot be located when we need it. We are faced with a shortage of necessary books, tapes or whatever. Whatever it is, we can be sure it won’t be mentioned in any syllabus or program.
These are the problems which should make us redefine our objectives in a more reasonable and human way. They should change us and make us into real teachers instead of operatives or robots. They are the human challenges which, in the end, should encourage us to adapt and change.
But the best teachers set their own objectives and those objectives are the results of the real challenges of genuine human interaction.
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