According to Purkey WW & Stanley PH, they state that the highly successful teacher has learned to use ones self in healthy and creative ways. Inventional teaching offers a bluepoint for optimal personhood called the four corner press.
Invitational Theory (Purkey, 1978; Purkey & Novak, 1984, 1988, 1996; Purkey & Schmidt, 1987, 1990; Purkey & Siegel, 2013; Novak, Armstrong, & Browne, 2014) seeks to explain phenomena and provide a means of intentionally summoning people to realize their relatively boundless potential in all areas of worthwhile human endeavor. Its purpose is to address the entire global nature of human existence and opportunity, and to make life a more exciting, satisfying and enriching experience. There are five basic assumptions that are essential in understanding Invitational Theory:
• People are able, valuable, and responsible and should be treated accordingly.
• Educating should be a collaborative, cooperative activity.
• The process is the product in the making.
• People possess untapped potential in all areas of worthwhile human endeavor.
• This potential can best be realized by places, policies, programs, and processes specifically designed to invite development and by people who are intentionally inviting with themselves and others, personally and professionally
Invitational Theory is unlike any other system reported in the professional literature in that it provides an overarching and encompassing framework for a variety of approaches and models that fit with its five basic elements. These assumptions give it purpose and direction, and take the form of a stance consisting of five elements: care, trust, respect, optimism, and intentionality.
The goal of Invitational Theory is to encourage individuals to enrich their lives in each of four basic dimensions: (1) being personally inviting with oneself; (2) being personally inviting with others; (3) being professionally inviting with oneself; and (4) being professionally inviting with others. Like pistons in a finely tuned machine or sections of musicians in a concert orchestra, the four dimensions work together to give power to the whole movement. While there are times when one of the four dimensions may demand special attention, the overall goal is to seek balance and harmony between personal and professional functioning.
Being Personally Inviting With Oneself
To be a beneficial presence in the lives of others it is essential that individuals first be inviting to themselves. This means that they view themselves as able, valuable and responsible and are open to experience. Those who adopt Invitational Theory seek to reinvent and inspirit themselves personally. Being personally inviting with oneself takes an endless variety of forms. It means caring for one’s mental health and making appropriate choices in life. By taking up a new hobby, relaxing with a good book, exercising regularly, learning to laugh more, visiting friends, getting sufficient sleep, growing a garden, or managing time wisely, people can rejuvenate their own well-being.
Being Personally Inviting With Others
Being inviting requires that the feelings, wishes, and aspirations of others be taken into account. Without this, Invitational Theory could not exist. In practical terms, good support groups are important. The “social committee” might be the most vital committee in any organization. Specific ways to be personally inviting with others are simple but often overlooked. Getting to know colleagues on a social basis, sending friendly notes, forming a car-pool, remembering birthdays, enjoying a faculty party, practicing politeness, celebrating successes, and respecting differences are all examples of Invitational Theory in action.
Being Professionally Inviting With Oneself
Being professionally inviting with oneself can take a variety of forms, but it begins with ethical awareness and a clear and efficient perception of situations and oneself. In practical terms, being professionally inviting with oneself means trying a new method, seeking certification, learning new skills, returning to graduate school, enrolling in a workshop, attending conferences, reading journals, writing for publication, and making presentations at conferences. Keeping alive professionally is particularly important because of the rapidly expanding knowledge base.
The final dimension of Invitational Theory is being professionally inviting with others.
This involves such qualities as treating people, not as labels or groups, but as individuals. It also requires honesty and the ability to accept less-than-perfect behavior of human beings. In everyday practice, being professionally inviting with others requires careful attention to the policies that are introduced, the programs established, the places created, the processes manifested, and the behaviors exhibited. Among the countless ways that individuals can be professionally inviting with others are to have high aspirations, fight sexism and racism in any form, work cooperatively, behave ethically, provide professional feedback, and maintain an optimistic stance. Professionals who combine the four dimensions of Invitational Theory into a seamless whole are well on their way to putting the theory into practice. The successful individual is one who balances the four dimensions to sustain energy and enthusiasm for teaching, learning, leading, and living.
1.2 a. Great teachers are humble.
Great teachers speak simply. They don’t need to impress with their knowledge. They are comfortable with what they know and eager to learn what they do not. They do not puff. As the tongue twisting adage goes, “He who knows not and knows he knows not is a wise man. He who knows not and knows not he knows not is a fool.” Great teachers are modest about their knowledge. Or as succinctly put by Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 8:2, “If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know.”
b.Great Teachers Are Patient
What is patience? It is the bearing of misfortune, difficulty, and annoyances without complaining, losing one’s temper or showing irritation. Great Teachers are patient with their students, no matter how many mistakes the student makes or how many times the teacher needs to explain. The wonderful thing about practicing patience is that it benefits the one practicing it as much or more as the one it is practiced upon. Being patient is indicative of self restraint and discipline and demonstrates a quality in a teacher that will likely be emulated in the student.
c.Great Teachers Have Enthusiasm for Their Subject Matter.
Great teachers enjoy talking about what they teach. Whether they have one year or ten years experience, great teachers show eagerness and excitement when they approach their topics. They speak with enthusiasm, even wonder. They may have been teaching 7th grade math for 35 years, or have been working in accounting since 1975 but they approach imparting their knowledge with the same fervor as when they first began when they are trying to help someone else along.
Question 2
What is ‘communication’? According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary the word means ‘the act of imparting, especially news’, or ‘the science and practice of transmitting information’. These definitions clearly show the link between ‘teaching’ and ‘communication’: teachers are constantly imparting new knowledge, or transmitting information.
To help make a good first impression.
• Understanding how we come across to customers, our staff, contractors and competitors, etc. • Sending the right messages – managers and leaders using the non verbal messages to lead etc.
• Reading some of the basic signals to help build rapport, gain trust and improve the morale.
• Understanding non verbal communication can confirm or contradict the words actually spoken.
. Facial expressions: smiles, frowns and winks can convey a lot! Sometimes, we cannot control our facial expressions, but we usually can. There are differences, though: it is said that people can instinctively tell a forced smile from a genuine, spontaneous one.
Body language: the way we sit, stand or move our feet as we talk can show how confident, relaxed or nervous we are feeling. This type of non verbal communication is very often unconscious. Learning to read other people’s body language gives us a powerful insight into their minds.
Emoticons: this ‘language’s is fast becoming ubiquitous. Whether we use instant messaging services, SMS, or email, emoticons are very useful for expressing our emotions in a succinct and often humorous way. This is also the most modern type of non verbal communication on this list.
4. Writing: writing down our thoughts, or even turning them into great literature, is a fantastic way to communicate sophisticated ideas. We can write to other people in a traditional way, using letters. Or, we can use text messaging, instant messaging online, emails or social media platforms to communicate our thoughts in writing. Writing can be spontaneous or it can be the product of years of editing and re-editing.
Question 3
3.1
Deal with each conflict as it arises: The boys who are always focusing on sports should be advised to look after their academics as it will affect their examination mark towards the end of the year.Girls who are having relationships with the teaches should be reported to the Department of Education for fair justice as well as the teachers.The rules in the classrooms should be reminded frequently.
Confront the issue as a problem to be solved: Mr Lavender should make or arrange a class meeting where all problems are going to be discussed involving the school principal as well as the other teachers.
Do not engage in blaming or character assassination:Mr Lavender should not blame or name call all learners who have done wrong.
Be open minded and be fair,listening all sides of the issu:
Make sure everyone in the group understands all sides of the issue by having them repeat or write down :
Brainstorm to find solutions or compromises:
3.2 The relationship between student and teacher plays a large role in the trajectory of a child’s academic success and social development. Establishing a positive relationship with their teacher helps a student feel more comfortable and safe in their classroom environments.
As a result, students are more likely to participate actively in class and challenge themselves academically. Studies show that teachers who feel engaged by passionate students who proactively work at their relationships with them grade a full grade higher than others. It pays to pursue a strong relationship with a teacher from the first day of school.
he student/teacher relationship is a cornerstone in a student’s social maturation process. Cultivating a positive rapport with a non-parental authority figure allows students to define themselves, adapt to their environment and grow their emotional and social intelligence. It takes guts and determination to address a teacher privately and let them know how much doing well in the classroom matters to them and teachers value that outreach and display of maturity.
For the child who struggles in school, having a good relationship with their teachers is critical to their success. It’s not uncommon for kids who struggle academically to have the most challenging relationships with their teachers, which just furthers their issues with performance. Peter went on to say, “Whenever I work with this type of student, I will convince the student to work on building the relationships with their teachers daily, helping them engage the teacher in a positive way to earn the extra scores that come from a good relationship with teachers. All of my interaction starts with talking about the relationship with teachers and ways to improve them.”
Question 4.
4.1 Group norms
Norms are rules that define what the appropriate attitudes, feelings and behaviours are in a group. Group norms prescribe the desirable and undesirable actions in particular situations.
Group norms are shared rules, beliefs and expectations describing how the members should feel, think and behave.
Generally norms are established early-on the life of the group, they are developed gradually as team members interact, influence each other, or rarely they are created through deliberate, conscious efforts. Once norms are established and shared by the group members, they could implicitly drive a group members’ behaviour. Team members may be unable to explicitly explain or articulate the rules, especially when they follow these rules automatically without deliberate thinking or effort. If these rules are socially established, accepted and consolidated they become resistant to change, and they will be implicitly transferred from one team member to the next (Smith, 2008; Levi, 20
Group norms serve multiple functions, such as:
– Coordinating and providing descriptions: norms provide powerful codes of behaviour that guide social life, in this way helping to coordinate group members’ activities. For example norms prescribe if it is acceptable to criticise someone’s work or not, what should be done facing uncertainties, how members should act about deadlines, and so forth.
– Reducing uncertainty: as norms describe how members should behave under certain situations, hereby they also act to reduce uncertainty in difficult, uncertain situations.
– Encouraging active participation: norms prescribe how members should interact, what is expected to think and act, in this way embarrassing or deviant social situations could be avoided, moreover active participation could be encouraged.
Group cohesion
The basic Gestalt idea that “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts” is certainly true for groups as well. One important criterion that differentiates groups from the aggregation of independent individuals is that the members as a whole form a unified social entity together. Group cohesiveness appears in groups where members have shared social identity, a shared sense of group identity, the sense of “we”. In a cohesive group all the members share a sense of belonging to the group, they like each other and the group itself; they experience a desire to remain part of the group. In groups with high cohesion members are willing to coordinate their efforts to achieve the common goals, and act as one unit (Carpenter et al., 2010).
Group cohesion is an interpersonal bond that keeps group members together.
Factors a?ecting group cohesion could be the following (Figure 4):
– similarity: the extent to which the individuals resemble one another (in age, gender, education, skills, attitudes, values, and beliefs)
– stability: how long a group stays together
– size: the number of group members
– support: the extent group members experience coaching and are encouraged to support group members
– threats: the existence of external threats could strengthen the interpersonal bond
– isolation: when the group is physically isolated from the outside world, the connection between members can become stronger.
In sum, the more similar members are in their demographical characteristics or beliefs, or the longer the group stays together, or the smaller the group is, and the more stimulation they experience for supporting each other – the greater the power of social bond is between the team members.
– Group cohesion can help to reduce the level of stress. In a cohesive group the members are more supportive and helpful to each other, so the group as a whole can better manage stress, problems and conflicts. Groups with well-developed social relations are better equipped to face problems and conflicts related to the task or to the group itself. We have to draw the attention to an important paradox regarding the effects of the cohesion. Although cohesion provides psychological support for the members in managing stress and conflicts initially, in a highly cohesive group any disruption from normal functioning (e.g. loss of a group member, arrival of a new group member) may cause emotional stress. For example, in a cohesive group new members may not (or hardly) be accepted. In a cohesive group the members strongly resist changes.
– Cohesion can help to improve group performance, at the same time when the group is successful, its level of cohesion can also increase. The effect of cohesion on group performance is higher, when the task requires a high level of interaction, communication, cooperation and coordination among its members. In a cohesive group members know each other, so the group can better communicate, cooperate with each other, the actions will be in harmony, all these lead to an efficient team functioning
Group roles
Group roles are a set of expected behaviours associated with a certain position. Roles describe what the team members should do, how they should act, communicate, relate with others. Researchers distinguish between two types of roles: those related to the tasks (task-oriented) and those related to the functioning of the team (relationship-oriented). Task oriented roles prescribe behaviours that stimulate task, goal or action achievement (such as coordinating the action toward the goals, provide task-related feedback). Relationship oriented roles focus on the quality of interpersonal relationships (e.g. person-related feedback, showing empathy and concerns for others). Both types of roles are important within the team. If there are only roles related to tasks, the goals could be achieved efficiently and effectively, however the climate and the team members’ satisfaction could be impaired, which would likely lead to the decomposition of the team on long term.
