Why Do I Need a Teacher When I’ve Got Google

students to get on with the learning and they pay a great deal more attention to what he is saying at the beginning of each lesson (than they ordinarily would).
    Another benefit from filling less of the lesson with your input is that it means you have less time to stray into that dark and barren pedagogicalwasteland where the teacher clichés lurk. I have observed too many lessons where the only effect of the teacher cliché has been that of undermining the teacher using it. If you really want your class to respect you, then these clichés are to be avoided ‘like the plague’. Here, according to an online forum, is a list of the ones that most people remember or, in the words of the World Wide Web resident who set the website up, ‘This is where we post all of the stupid hackneyed things teachers say to kids in class.’ 1 Here is my top ten from the list:
    1 It’s your own time you’re wasting!
    2 The bell is a signal for me, not for you.
    3 You’re only cheating yourself.
    4 You think this is funny, do you?
    5 (Following a student’s yawn) ‘I’m sorry, am I BORING you?’
    6 I can stay here all day!
    7 I’m sure your parents will find it equally amusing when they read my letter about why you have failed your exam.
    8 If you spent a little more time working, and a little less time yapping, maybe we could see some results.
    9 Would you [insert crime here] at home?
    And my favourite, ever since I heard the joke about the inflatable boy who took a knife into his inflatable school and was summoned to see his inflatable headteacher:
    10 You’ve let the school down, you’ve let me down, you’ve let your friends down but, most importantly, you’ve let yourself down.
    You have been warned.
    Remember through all of this, though, that downplaying your presence in the classroom is not in any way to do with downplaying your role in their learning. You are the most important element in the classroom and, as we have learned, you can and do make the difference between a child having a wonderful and fulfilled life or not. Think of yourself like a vase. The bit in the middle that isn’t vase, the space, is as important as the bit around the edges that is vase.
    In
Super Teaching
Jensen quotes from a book called the
Tao of Leadership
by John Heider (2005), adapting it to relate to teaching. Drawing on wisdom that goes back over 2,500 years, this is Jensen’s view on teachers:
    A wise teacher lets others have the floor. A good teacher is better than a spectacular teacher. Otherwise the teacher outshines the teachings.Be a mid-wife to learning – facilitate what is happening rather than what you think ought to be happening. Silence says more than words, pay much attention to it. … Let go of your ego, and you will receive what you need. Give away credit and you get more. … The less you make of yourself the more you are … Trying to appear brilliant is not enlightened. The gift of a great teacher is creating an awareness of greatness in others. Because the teacher can see clearly, light is shed on others … .
    (Jensen 1995)
    So, then, are you a vase or a brick?

Chapter 29
Teach less, learn more
    Brave heads and lazy teachers!
    I believe that these two factors will significantly improve the quality of education in this country.
    When I refer to ‘brave heads’ I am referring to headteachers who are, like some of the very best ones I’ve seen in my time in education, strong enough to stand up to the external pressures coming at them. Their unremitting message is:
    This is the way we do things here because this is what we know our children need from us most. Colleagues – teach the way we have agreed to do it. If the inspectors/parents/government don’t like it then they will have me to deal with, not you. The buck stops with me not you so don’t be scared to teach in the way we know is right.
    Many teachers I meet feel scared and inhibited to try new things because of what others might say, yet those in a school with such a head enjoy a far greater freedom to innovate and experiment.
    When Simon Cooper-Hind was a headteacher he used to rally his staff before an inspection with the reminder that, if Ofsted asked them why they were using a particular strategy, they were simply to reply, ‘It’s for the kids.’ As he told me once, ‘That way it can’t be wrong. It could be better, but it can never be wrong.’ Another head I met described how he asked himself three questions at the end of each day:
    Am I