4 Things I Wish All My Teachers Could Have Done
Often these are what separate “good” teachers from “bad” teachers.
I personally think most teachers are burdened with perfectionism, thinking they have to be perfect in front of their student to be a ‘role model’. They have to know all the answers just because they are the teachers and they feel embarrassed to be (or admit to being) wrong.
I had been running into arguments with teachers from the 2nd grade all the way till 11th grade (which was my final year of high school).
1. Be honest with students
I remember a high school teacher of mine who was assigned as my public speaking mentor told me this during our first meeting — “I am your public speaking mentor but I have not spoken on stage even once in my life. I can guide you on the things you say, not how you say them,” She instantly won my respect.
Teachers often don’t feel comfortable telling students about their weaknesses, and things they are unfamiliar with. This comes off very badly when a teacher pretends to know something he or she does not.
I wish all my teachers could have been more like the teacher I mentioned earlier. By letting students know your flaws, students would know what to expect and would proceed to show understanding when things don’t go as expected. They treat you as human, an imperfect, flawed human that makes mistakes, just like the rest of them.
2. Be a leader or a guide, not a dictator
A teacher was never meant to only provide answers and solutions, but to communicate the means to reach the desired ends.
Often times, teachers are pressured to give the right answer, thinking that is their job. This makes it hard on students when they just could not agree on a certain thing because the teachers’ pride would be at stake. This does not necessarily have to be the case.
If teachers’ acknowledge that their job is to teach the methodology of obtaining an answer instead of the answer itself, it gives the students the freedom to explore possibilities.
3. Have two-sided conversations with students
The teacher-student relationship does not have to be bounded by the “teachers talk and students listen” concept. A teacher is an educator, a person who communicates knowledge to students. It would be ineffective teaching if what a teacher teaches never makes its way to the student’s heart.
Therefore, it is crucial for teachers to sometimes be the listener. Listening to students and engaging in meaningful conversations with them would allow the teachers to get to know their students better. By knowing their students better, they would gain insight that would be useful for teaching, such as what students are interested in, what are their values, what puts them off and so on.
It is just like marketing. It doesn’t matter how good a product is if the brand is detached from its target audience due to a lack of understanding of their target audience. It is important to understand their target audience by engaging with them.
4. Acknowledge that there are things to be learnt from students as well
It is staggering to me how “young people are dumb” still does not sound as disgusting of a generalization as it should be. We have entrepreneurs and self-made millionaires still studying high school or college popping out on the news every now and then. The frequency of this only gets greater and greater as the years go by. There are people that have figured out quite a lot of a certain thing in any circle, even in school.
Teachers have to obliterate the idea that they have nothing to learn from students and that they are only in school to teach. Students feel valued when teachers actually pay attention to what they are good at and point them out. Being open to learning from even people who are younger or of lower status than you is an admirable thing.
The Chinese have this traditional saying
敏而好学，不耻下问，是以谓之‘文’也。- Confucius
This quote by Confucius means
Those who are worthy of the posthumous name (an honorary name given to royalty, and nobles after the person dies) ‘Wen’ are those who are not just smart and diligent but also do not find shame in asking and learning from those who are of lower status than them.
In short,
Learning from a person of lower status is the behavior of a noble person.
Conclusion
The four things I wished all my teachers could have done were these:
- Be honest with students
- Be a guide, not a dictator
- Have two-sided conversations with students
- Be willing to learn from students
The teachers that did these things in my school experiences were the most well respected and persuasive teachers, and the teachers that are most likely to make a huge impact in a student’s heart.
A note of gratitude
With all that said, thank you to each and every teacher out there. You shape our future generations in ways greater than you could possibly imagine. I, and I believe many more, are extremely grateful for the incredible service you are providing for our world today and the bright future that lies ahead.
