To be a teacher means to have acquired (because I believe you can acquire them) the necessary skills to be capable to transmit knowledge so that pupils create a positive image of the subject that is being treated. It means to me that independently that some pupils will like and enjoy some subjects more than others, it is not the attitude of the teacher what makes the difference in those feelings. And that is why I agree that it is very important to choose to be a teacher of subjects which you feel passion for.
When I look back on my primary and secondary school time, I try to remember which teachers meant something to me, why I remember them and how were they teaching. And I remember that I could stand out some features that they had in common:
- They had social skills: fluent interaction, great communication, comprehension, empathy, open-minded, conflict resolution, and team-building skills.
- They had previously prepared every single class: even pupils that had not passed the following year, and had to repeat the same course again, noticed that some things had changed because they adapted the theory to the real needs of the class and also enjoyed innovating constantly.
-They were fresh and creative: including situations where having prepared the class, something failed and they could not go along with it. But they had the capability of improvising something else that still made sense and kept our motivation up.
-They were ready to learn and accept their mistakes: I remember them leading by example, teaching pupils how to apologize in front of others by doing it themselves and admit and accept one's mistakes as a daily action. That was one of the ways they did respect pupils, and I remember them as well gaining respect thereby.
- They were listening in all the ways that a teacher can listen: they were listening with the eyes (by observing the needs of each student, individually, and their attitude through their body language, observing whether they were boring, distracted or enjoying), with the ears (by listening carefully what pupils had personally to say about the subject and the way the class was being held, through their complaints or positive comments). And also they were listening with the heart. And I have to say that, when I was a little girl I was not able to realize all these teaching techniques I have commented below. However, the thing that I realized was that passion, coming from the heart, combined with a special dynamic energy that also enveloped simple explanations making everything understandable and enjoyable and creating an environment where the relationship teacher-pupils was very close. They also seemed to really care about their pupils, and not just as a part of an automated behavior based on established standards of performance.
- They took care of the environment and the pupils themselves: they were concerned about the amount of light that was in the class, so they had no trouble reading or staying awake, the heat and ventilation in class, and the way they were sitting. And after that, they made sure to create a social environment: changing the distribution of the tables and creating interpersonal relationships among the pupils by promoting activities involving group work. They paid much attention to that the pupils had as much homogeneous participation as possible (always taking into account the personal aspects of each pupil).
I have a special comment about self-confidence. Because many people think that is essential for a teacher to have a great grade of self-confidence. But it is not a feature that the teachers that meant something to me, had in common. Therefore, I consider more important the interest (I rather prefer to call it passion) and the ability to awake interest among the pupils, than a part of the personality that implies having self-confidence (though I would encourage everyone to work on raising it). And that reminds me of Per F. Laursen when he mentions in his book Teacher Professional Development in Changing Conditions, the empirical research that was used during the last 100 years to select teachers based on the personal characteristics. In his own words, "The study demonstrates that authenticity is neither a matter of feelings nor personality. It is a matter of competence". He refers authenticity as the relationship between teachers and their students: to see pupils as fellow human beings, respect them, give them reasons for the issues being addressed instead of manipulating or force them to think in a specific way, to get close to them, to feel a person who inspires...Definitely, where he is using the word authenticity, I have been using passion to explain the same concept. Concluding, and after have made my own researches, I completely agree with the author that the fact of selecting future teachers by making an intelligence or personality test, leads to a complete failure results. And "today most researchers seem to agree that the relevant personal characteristics concern the knowledge or competence of teachers".
And all these make me wonder things like: How does a teacher influence the future decisions of pupils? Are we aware of the importance of the role that teachers play within the society, despite having suffered a decline in popularity/prestige as a profession?
I believe it is important to reflect on how important it is, by the future teachers, to take very seriously the point where they are going to be definitely a big influence on the future of maybe thousand children (if you work for many years), and so reflect upon what would they really like to teach about and put all interest in their training as a teachers. It is a responsibility that must be assumed. When a person receives a diploma saying that is a teacher, it is not just a paper that involves that have gotten the skills and the knowledge considered indispensable to be a teacher. It also involves that this person will take a part of the responsibility of educating the children that will continue building our society, and all that this implies. The way how teachers influence their pupils is bilateral:
1) Globally: about how to behave and treat others within society. Educating them within values of tolerance and respect, among many others, will be the positive side of this influence.
2) Individually: about what profession they will choose in the future. This will be influenced by the image that the teacher has helped to create in the pupil about the subjects they have had at the school. A good teacher will actually not be an influence of what the pupil will choose, but a trampoline that helps the pupil to discover his/her own strengths, develop them, and go to achieve their goals with the same passion as he/she has learned.
If a teacher influences the pupil to choose not to study a specific subject, for instance, that means to me that he did not a good job, when the pupil does not like it because has negative thoughts and images about it.
"Teaching is the one profession that creates all other professions"
Therefore WE, the future teachers, are being instructed to be an instructor of the new generations of the future citizens. We are the future. And we have the future in our hands.
No comments:
Post a Comment