Teachers - Listening, Understanding, Then Discussing! (What qualities make an excellent teacher?)

Member Name: BabyGirl08x

Product:	What qualities make an excellent teacher?
Date:	19/05/08 (894 review reads)
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You would expect to hear a review of this sort, from someone high in authority or experienced in education. But, today, you are going to hear the thoughts and opinions from someone who works with teachers near enough everyday of her life though her childhood; a pupil. Surely, everyone, has spent their childhood dealing with the stress and pressure of teachers. But the difference with myself, is, I am still working alongside with them. Since I am close to leaving school, I have had plenty of experience. I now see how great teachers have been in the past, and also they could have improved their teaching methods, to help me.

Here is the following, in any random order, some things I think are important when it comes to teaching.

1. Experience is not everything!
Every time, in the past, I have ever had an issue with a teacher, I always get the same response. "I have been teaching for many years, I think I should know". I despise teachers who use this phrase, with a vengeance. Sometimes, I feel as if the older teachers know less, than more. It is as if their head is still floating in the past, to when they disciplined children with the belt! Over the years, teaching methods have changed, new rights and rules have been created, and universities are teaching, teachers, in a whole new way. Perhaps, because they have been teaching for so long, they have missed out on all the new stuff, ignored all the modern methods, and still kept the same routine of teaching as they have in the 70's. I always find, that the young student teachers are willing to adapt to the new ways of teaching, happy to learn from pupils, and in return, the pupils are happy to learn from them. This is not the case with older, more "experienced" teachers. I must admit, not all, but most of the older teachers refuse to learn new and modern things, certain, that their methods have worked for years, and years, so they should work now. Also, another problem I find with older teachers, is the discipline. Having the privilege of the belt removed, probably made teaching a hell of a lot more difficult for teachers. As my father told me, the belt was used for anything, even for dropping a pencil. We all know, that there's no way anyone would get punished for that nowadays. Or would they? Perhaps, teachers didn't get the whole idea that you have a little less strict, and, as a result, discipline children for things they do not deserve to be disciplined for, this is very confusing for children, and as a result may cause distress and anger in a child. So, in conclusion, some older teachers may be slightly immature, in the way that they refuse to teach the modern way, because, they hate the idea of being wrong. I think this is very immature! How can an immature teacher teach others to be mature? And trust me, this does happen!

2. Put a bloody smile on that coopin, hen.
This is probably the most important part of teaching. Personality! For example, one teacher is a really pleasant, nice, and soft hearted. She has a great talent of interacting with pupils, speaking the language of pupils, for example, discussing boyfriends with girls whilst not teaching. Or discussing last nights football score with the boys. Most of all, she always smiles! It's really pleasant to be working with pleasant people! Could you image working with people who never smiled, were always dry, and very unsociable! How bored would you be! Well, this is the case with children. If a teacher fails to socialise properly with children, they are likely to get very bored! At this present moment, in Home Economics, our form is being taught by a student. This student, isn't the smiley, talkative, socialising student you would expect! She is the teacher who won't smile, doesn't even say as much as a hello, puts the ingredients on the main table, and says "right, start cooking!". It makes you feel really depressed, and you simply don't enjoy the subject, when your teacher is like this. And when you don't enjoy the subject, you don't learn anything. It is very true! There is no way, on earth, you can be good at something you don't enjoy! So, in conclusion, it's important to have a lot of personality when teaching, you should interact with your pupils, and discuss things other than grades! Of course, only when it's appropriate.

3. Keeping it balanced.
Okay, I will admit, the teacher I described in the previous paragraph (the good one), isn't the best type of teacher! She is very soft hearted, and has no idea about discipline. My favourite teacher, probably has to be my physics teacher! She has all the qualities as described above, but she knows when to put her foot down. Its very important for teachers to have a healthy balance. One one side, being nice, friendly, talkative, and on the other side, strict and stubborn. The strict and stubborn teachers, will, get results! But these teachers don't care how they get the results; as long as they have got them! Once again, this is distressing and depressing for pupils. Being a nice and friendly person, but using discipline when you need to, gets the best results! Meaning, everyone is happy, both ways.

4. Equality
When a pupil blames a teacher of being unfair, why do people suddenly assume it's the immature adolescents doing, and not the teachers! I always thought, there's no such thing as a teacher that hates you for person reasons, it's just all the naughty people that hate them because they don't get their own way. I believed this for many years, until I got a fair taste of experience, myself. My physical education teacher, a few years ago, hated me! No, I wasn't just a stubborn little adolescent that didn't get her own way! I was just someone who expressed their opinion and stood up for rights, and equality! In return, I was hit with 2 years of criticism and grief. One day, the whole class was made to run 5 times round the school. After three times of running, I asked for permission to stop as I hadn't brought my inhaler. He refused to let me stop as I hasn't brought an inhaler, basically, doubting my illness. I was forced to keep running round the school. Eventually, I was lying on the ground struggling to breathing, having an asthma attack in other words. After I had calmed down, I completed my laps around the school, of course, when I had stopped I was being literally shouted at for not putting enough effort in. I tried explaining I was on the ground, dying, but it didn't work. I was detained that day. However, three minutes afterwards, a girl came round. She was questioned why she was late, and her reply was "sorry, Im asthmatic". And the teachers reply was "Ok, dear. You just have a rest for now". Was this fair? The girl wasn't even asthmatic! She has stopped to start snogging her boyfriend behind the bike shed. And I was lying on the ground, in pieces?! Is this equality? Were me and Lauren being treated equally? Another example, was also in my younger school years. French, this was. Now this teacher, is a low-life, old, naggy teacher, whom nobody learns from because of this. There was a boy in my class, attention seeking, fat, ugly, and annoying! That sounded pretty mean, but I was bullied from him in primary years, I have very right to be mean. If this boy, Sean, was to shout a cheeky remark out to the teacher, he would be told to be quiet. However, I imagined another boy in my form shouting out the same thing, he would be shouted at, detained, referred and punished. This is just a simple example of inequality, these days!

5. Understanding, listening, and discussing.
Sometimes, I wish teachers would listen to what you have to say. Sometimes, they purposely put you down because they know they have authority over you. If you are having a problem, sometimes they just repeat what the given task is, and walk away. Then, two minutes later, if you are still having difficulties, your not "trying". There's nothing more frustrating when you are being accused of not trying when your trying your hardest. You feel redundant, left out, and disowned. Teachers have to start 1. listen to the problem. Teachers think they can listen to the first three words of your problem, and start explaining what is happening. But sometimes, they get the wrong idea, and their response is "did you just listen to a word I said". And you feeling like saying "yes, did listen to a word you said, actually, I listened to every word you said, how many of my words did you listen to, three?". Although, you don't wish to as you don't want to cause any more trouble. 2. They should understand. They should help you explain your problem in the best words until the pupil has agreed that the teacher understands their question. This is important especially in lower school S1-S4. As they maybe can't always explain where they are stuck. 3. discuss. Teachers shouldn't just lecture on what you have done wrong and right, they should discuss, allow you to be a part of the learning too! And that way, maybe both teachers and pupils learn things from each other.

I would like to congratulate all the teachers who do use these methods, discuss, listen and understand (not in that order). The only person who can really teach you how to teach, is a pupil. It's like that saying, what comes first, the chicken or the egg? Think about that saying, then think about teachers learning from pupils, and pupils learning from teachers. You'll understand!

Summary: Listen to the pupils, and the puils will listen to you!