Great teaching is great acting.
To be a great teacher; to be a notable educator; to be an influence for good over your students, you almost always want to assume the mind of the best Hollywood actors.
More than imposing, an effective teacher has the power to call out the best of his students through inspiration. An inspirational instructor churns classrooms with a force of living, breathing knowledge. He speaks to mind and soul, heart and bowels. Theories move beyond the page assuming a form and shape that’s tangible: perceptible to the senses.
It’s his passion in the words and the ideas that can spark students’ minds to curious action and investigation
Teaching is the poetry of careers. And learning is its muse.
Classroom Leadership
A 2020 study titled Leaders in the Classroom, investigated whether teachers perceive themselves as leaders in the context of a classroom.
As a common professional practice, people generally rely on leaders and mentors to support career progression: as evidenced in instructional coaches and the ever-booming self-improvement industry. This is however not reflected in the classroom yet teachers are constantly engaging and enhancing their students’ intellectual growth.
The study finds that educators identify primarily as “conveyors of knowledge”.
Because intent influences action, the teachers in the study were found to experience a “disconnect between why they became teachers, and their perceptions of the role of a teacher.”
Where this disconnect exists teachers struggle to properly manage the chaos of learning, or to keep going especially during rough patches in their careers.
Perception Affects Performance
How we perceive ourselves is how we perform.
Teachers who adopt a proper perspective of their classroom role may mean the difference between average and superior student performance.
In the information age, the role of “conveyor-of-knowledge”, as the main teacher-identity, may not be reliable. With a few clicks, older and more aware students can quickly access all the information they might need. This does not render this role irrelevant but it can challenge a teacher’s self-perception. It can be threatening when a student knows more than you on a topic.
For the insecure educator, a student’s curiosity and intelligence can be a source of great discomfort. Brilliant teachers, on the other hand, can develop a network of supporting roles that they can rely on to help students be their best versions.
With a better attitude and perception of their identity, instructors can become humanized and approachable all while maintaining professional rigor. This way students can learn to model themselves around the best qualities of those charged with educating them.
This kind of approach provides a human face that learners can trust. More than a word, trust represents a safe and secure environment in which both learner and student can explore knowledge, generate mutual insight and challenge each other to be better.
Without a proper understanding of their classroom identity, it can be hard for teachers to navigate their careers: simple decisions become a chore, students stay uninspired, and no initiative is made to resolve classroom conflict.
Simply put poor teacher performance stems from a lack of proper identity.
Leadership & Voice Acting
A Voice Actor uses his voice in performance to represent a character or provide information to an audience.
What differentiates voice acting from on-stage or on-camera acting is that the voice takes center-stage. The voice actor is not visible to anyone. Therefore he can’t rely on physical movements or facial expressions to visually enhance his performance. The focus is exclusively on the voice and how the actor uses it to effect.
But the best voice actors are aware of these limitations. Therefore, they seek to break these rules immediately they understand them. While rookies focus on drama and stylistic techniques, the pros focus on being one thing: believable.
The pros understand that being convincing is how you live beyond the rules and play within the limitations.
Benedict Cumberbatch who plays Dr. Strange in the Marvel Universe was tasked to voice-over the role of Smaug - the evil Dragon -in the Hobbit Film Series.
In rare behind-the-scene takes that show the audition process all the way to the final product the Directors describe Benedict as believable in the auditions.
He, Benedict, doesn’t only voice the serpent, he writhes his torso, and twists his head in a manner that captures the essence of the dragon. When the directors watched his audition, which omitted his face, they were captivated by both the voice and the overall sense of character he projected.
To properly voice a character, the actor must lead out the audience’s perception through imagination. The actor must go beyond playing: he must be the character. By becoming the character, he works with the audience’s mind to bring the character to life.
It is an actor’s self-perception that makes a role leap to out to from the screen and into our minds.
To make classroom impact, teachers can borrow from voice actors. While the classroom is not a stage for dramatization, teachers can choose to see themselves as leaders first.
An unwavering self-belief in the role of classroom leader can translate to great wins for both instructors and learners.
I absolutely agree - inspiring students is key to great teaching. And inspiration doesn't come from conveying knowledge - how boring! I hadn't thought of it as acting, however. Interesting.
On a different note - loved watching BC embody Smaug - wow!