How important really is the teacher in the education sector? Many people rely heavily on the teacher at schools for the education of their children. At the same time, educational institutions also take pride of their teachers’ capabilities to impart knowledge on the youth. In International Schools, authorities do invest heavily on recruiting the best teachers to be part of their staff. It seems, therefore, that these educators play a central role at schools and in the education sector, in general. In this column, we will try to understand the characteristics of a good teacher and his or her responsibilities to a great extent.
As I conducted nearly about thousand professional development sessions to the teachers in schools, I do always treat them before starting the session as the living gods. Really speaking, they are the gods who enlighten the future development of the students.
In addition, I counseled teachers in coaching sessions, it became apparent that the heart of a teacher is what matters-everything else can be taught. What is heart? Passion, desire and drive combined to form an intense intrinsic motivation to act. This is the foremost quality of a good teacher and the first thing I look for in a teacher in a school.
How can you call a person as a leader if he does not have subordinates to follow him? Similarly, you cannot find any school that has no teacher in its staff. Of course, it cannot be called a school if it does not have teachers. A teacher is a person who is responsible for conveying knowledge to the students to prepare the latter to become productive, competitive and skillful members of the society. As amply called, a teacher teaches the students on the relevant information, skills and experiences they need in accordance with the established curriculum.
A good teacher has the quality and capability of effectively conveying knowledge and wisdom to the students without any reservations. In other words, the teachers are the trainers of the new generation of citizens, who will be the heirs to the society. It is the task of the teacher to train well and prepare the youth to face the challenges that will come upon them once they have graduated from university.
A teacher has the responsibility of passing the knowledge from generations pass to the future caretakers of society. These tasks have been made greater by the development of society and the advancement of technology. A couple of days ago, I observed a teacher in a school located in the area of Dummalasuriya attempting to teach English Language to the grade three children in a very attractive manner. It was a like a drama and his pronunciation was perfect. When he was loudly pronouncing the words together with the children in a dramatist way, the faces of the children showed high enthusiasm.
He did not allow students to sit down and all were participating in the assignment while standing. It was interesting to watch. The most significant thing I saw in the whole episode was giving five toffees to five successful students who answered correctly to the five questions extracted from the lesson.
As society and technology progresses, the challenges that are facing the teachers are also becoming enormous. They must be able to cope with up with the rapidly advancing technology along with their teaching methods. For that matter, all teachers whether they like or not have got to up-date with the modern trends and technology. One should realise that more and more students are hooked up with the internet. Thousands of information, a number of which are harmful to the students, is posted on the web. This could prove detrimental on the learning process of the students. Teachers must be able to screen or at least find a way to screen, these things or give clarifications on this unwanted information.
On the other hand, teachers can take advantage of the technological innovations. They can also use this technology to improve their teaching methods. I met a Principal of a national school in the North Western province and he came out with a wonderful idea of providing clip-on mikes to the primary teachers to do an effective teaching session. Before implementing this suggestion, unfortunately this principal was transferred out. This is how our education system in our country has been evolved. In other countries, these suggestions are implemented and rewarded. Sometimes, they are linked with other schools; they can use the convenience of the internet to communicate with other teachers to share experiences, methods and information on effective teaching.
It can be said, therefore, that teachers are very important in the development of society and as I explained before they could be treated as the gods. Without them, the passing of knowledge, accumulated from the past generations, to the new generation of caretakers of the society will not be possible.
This responsibility bestowed upon their shoulders is an enormous task. The profession of teaching is one of the noblest professions in society. As the great philosopher Aristotle once said, there are only three true professionals in society; they are the lawyers, the doctors and the teachers.
This ‘heart’ that good teachers possess moves them to continually put students first which is the very reason why some teachers put down tears when the students pass the examinations with high results. Even at the last grade five scholarship examination, 80 out 120 students exceled and I saw the eyes of the class teacher were with full of tears. Whenever teachers feel that they need much more techniques to learn, they do always attend whatever professional developments, listen to whatever advice and employ whatever strategies necessary for the benefit of their students. This motivation to adapt and evolve cannot be taught and does not automatically accompany a certificate of certification.
Teachers who possess heart take heed to counsel and advice. They embrace new teaching models, such as co-teaching and technology in the classroom. They self-evaluate, study, research, observe and adjust, all without prodding from department heads and administration. They are thirsty for information and seek to not only hone their skills but to share them with others. Students cannot help but benefit from these teachers who are open, resourceful and ready to learn.
Wherever you find teachers like this, you will be tempted to admit your children to these particular schools because the parents of the children know very well that their children achieve the anticipated results. Keep your eye out for teachers like these because only this kind of teacher, a teacher with heart, will ultimately bring about student achievement and success.
Young people today come to school with a different orientation than past generations. Traditional student disciplining approaches are no longer successful for far too many young people. This is the very reason one mother uttered that the kids today not only disrespect authority, they have no fear of it and, because of rights for young children-which we should have-it is hard to instill that fear without others claiming abuse.
So, how can we discipline students, so we as teachers can do our jobs and teach these young children who refuse to learn?
In many cases we resort to punishment as a strategy for motivation. For example, students who are assigned detention and who fail to show are punished with more detention.
But in my questioning about the use of detention in hundreds of workshops around the country, teachers rarely suggest detention is actually effective in changing behavior.
Why detention is an ineffective form of punishment When students are not afraid, punishment loses its effectiveness. Go ahead give the student more detention that he simply will not show up to.
This negative, coercive discipline and punishment approach is based on the belief that it is necessary to cause suffering to teach. It is like you need to hurt in order to instruct. The fact of the matter, however, is that people learn better when they feel better, not when they feel worse.
Remember, if punishment were effective in reducing inappropriate behavior, then there would be no discipline problems in schools.
The irony of punishment is that the more you use it to control your students’ behaviors, the less real influence you have over them. This is because coercion breeds resentment. In addition, if students behave because they are forced to behave, the teacher has not really succeeded. Students should behave because they want to-not because they have to in order to avoid punishment.
People are not changed by other people. People can be coerced into temporary compliance. But internal motivation-where people want to change-is more lasting and effective. Coercion, as in punishment, is not a lasting change agent. Once the punishment is over, the student feels free and clear.
The way to influence people toward internal rather than external motivation is through positive, non-coercive interaction.
Unfortunately, today’s educational establishment still has a 20th century mindset that focuses on external approaches to increase motivation. An example of the fallacy of this approach is the defunct self-esteem movement that used external approaches such as stickers and praise in attempts to make people happy and feel good. What was overlooked was the simple universal truth that people develop positive self-talk and self-esteem through the successes of their own efforts.
On the other hand, take a new teacher, one who has always wanted to help children and teach, yet has little or no experience and may not even be trained.
Courtesy - Daily News
