THE SKILL OF BEING

A ‘SNAKE CHARMER’
Fikky Aulia Novianti
Nurul Amalia
Fauziyah Yovian NI
Antrika Ayu Wulandari
Ervina Etika Handayani
In teaching, there are many strategies that can be
used to get attentation of students.In the model ex
amples that follow, you are trying to achieve ‘tenni
s player’ or ‘snake charmer’, rather than ‘waiter’, ‘p
late spinner’, or ‘lion tamer’.
WAITERS
When you first begin teaching, you are trying to
understand the subtleties of all those demands
and comments which students make. Consequ
ently, you respond to what they want rather tha
n what is best for them. Initially, the students m
ay determine many of your actions because it i
s difficult for you to take the initiative and drive t
he pace of work forward yourself.
PLATE SPINNERS
Once you become someone who feels that you
r role is to respond as fast as you can to studen
ts, you can find yourself turning into a frantic pl
ate spinner. In this model, you try to keep every
thing going by literally dashing from child to chil
d giving them an extra spin, as if they were plat
es on bamboo canes.
LION TAMER
this model is on the decline. In this mode you a
re very defensive indeed. Psychologically you k
eep such a distance between yourself and the
students that they rarely break through the defe
nce.
TENNIS PLAYER
Here you move around the tennis court (classro
om) and are capable of asking questions of stu
dents who are on the baseline (the area farthes
t from you) as well as at the net. You can use th
e occasional drop shot, half-volley and move to
dominate the centre of the room. You can take r
isks and generate a good working pace by bein
g in a number of different areas of the classroo
m.
SNAKE CHARMER
This is a style which some teachers see as an ideal. You
appear to be playing exactly the right kind of music and s
tudents come out of their baskets, do their work and go b
ack again for the night, having tidied up. Although this is
a stereotype, your aim is to generate a balance of respon
sibility and cooperation such that you do not actually nee
d to discipline your class. The snake charmer happens w
hen the tasks are so engaging, the students so motivate
d and the teacher is so in control that they can relax.
THE SAMPLE OF CASE
THE SOLUTION GIVEN

Mark could have involved students at an early s

tage in devising criteria for what makes a good
plan drawing, discussing this in small groups. A
lso, he could have made one of the criteria ‘wor
king well in a group’ thereby emphasizing self-r
esponsibility, awareness of others and learning
to be polite enough to listen to the other childre
n’s ideas.