Disclaimer (I know it is supposed to be at the bottom)- This one blog took me like 9 hours to complete, I did like 5 editings, That it should not hurt anybody. 7 (some of my school and collegemates) of us wrote this. Some examples are from my own life and some are from my friends.
All that we need is at least 1 should understand and follow it (Don’t think we are advising you we are just pouring out our hearts)
You Might think what do I know about teaching?
Well, Let me answer you, When I was in Grade 9, I used to teach English for my seniors (10th Grade) who were in my same tuition and they were not from English medium.
From Grade 10 I started taking tuitions for grade 6 to grade 10 for sake of pocket money. In the beginning, I just taught for 5 people, that was quite easy, as days passed that increased up to 30 students. I was happy one side and scared the other side (people who follow me knows this, that I am an Introvert), So all that I did was I kind of took 10 minutes each day to interact with students, I came to know what they like and what they don’t, Why they don’t understand the subject which is taught in school? What is their interest? And all these things. Made them comfortable.
This helped me in teaching and motivating them. I was also a student so that I could understand their feelings, I got an unknown call 4 days back(in 2020), I attended it, the first sentence the person spoke was “I got placed in Amazon, Thank you so much.” I was like Congrats, But why you thanking me and may I know who I am talking to? And the voice said, I’m kavya, who was your student in 2011, You motivated to speak in English and that’s why I am here. I felt blessed.
So I guess, I have some basic rights to talk about teachers.
Let’s get into the topic.
This is for all the teachers out there, A great salute for taking this profession.
“Teaching is a calling too. And I’ve always thought that teachers in their way are Holy-angels leading their flocks out of the darkness” – Jeannette walls.
You’re doing great already, but still, as students, we just wanted to say few things. You might have been following it already. Just for a few teachers who didn’t know this or its for the future teachers.
You guys are not selfish, You teach us whatever you know. If you were not there we had to learn everything on our own, some might learn some may not.
And now its for students who are reading this blog
I had to take a 1-year break from my college due to some mental health and in search of me. Before that, I had some sort of opinions on my teachers(I had some sort of fear to talk to them) but when I went to the college again trust me, things changed. The same teachers who I thought they don’t understand feelings and all she hugged me and said I’m there no matter what, I cried. Teachers are super cool. It’s all about understanding them. We usually don’t see their inner heart. Try that next time. You will never feel bad.
Let me Go in the sequence of the most important things.
1.Give some Realistic tasks
There was a teacher(I don’t want to tell His/her name) Who asked me some few basic questions from the subject, I didn’t know the answers and he/she asked me to study it, I spent 5 hours and studied just because I want to learn. The next day I went to him/her with full of confidence, he/She told me to sit next to him/her so did I, It was a great session even if I didn’t know the answer he/she told me to see the book and answer that was super cool. I admired the teacher, I wanted to learn more and more from him/her. I even thought I should become a teacher like him/her, he/She told me to read some more too. I was a little busy after that and he/she was too.
While returning home back I just wanted to go and say I will study which you told me to study, and I was about to thank him/her, But he/she broke my heart by telling one thing. Told me to do some unrealistic task the next day (for example doing some volcano, which we do for a science experiment in school) How is it possible who doesn’t know much about science and making volcano the next day?
I was about to ask, Dude, You think I am some sort of God having 10 hands to work and have no tiredness in my body? I am a human just like you. Working my ass out here and going back and working the same way. But, what to do we students are not supposed to talk like this to a teacher.
Dear Teachers, please understand one thing. After college or school, We have our own life we might wanna go sleep, read, many of us have side hustles, we work, workout and much more.
But you know what, we even cant spend time with our families just because of you guys, Giving loads of works and where can we go spend time with them.
“To the world, you might be just a teacher, but to your students, you are a hero”
But being a hero or villain it’s up to you.
2.Do Not Humiliate the students
Please for God sake Don’t do this.
First of All, think these things.
- Why are you scolding them?
- Is it the right place?
If a student doesn’t know basics? Or he did the mistakes again? or he is not well disciplined? Know the cause, and remember you were not the Mr or Miss perfect or knew everything since you were in your mother’s womb.
Instead of scolding him or her ask them why they don’t know or what is the problem, they will open up if you ask them with grace.
Please don’t shout or scold them in front of everyone, Importantly taking them to the staff room and making others also to scold, Seriously? Just think that this way, You being in that students place standing in front of so many people and somebody is scolding you. You get the pain right?
A close friend of mine expired a year back just because he got scoldings from his teachers, Everybody is not that strong as you think.
“A teacher plants a seed of knowledge, Sprinkles them with love, Patiently Natures their growth, TO produce tomorrows dreams”
3.We Need our teachers next to our parents, not next to our friends.
There are few teachers who body shames or sarcastically touches our emotions. We understand your trying to be close with the students just to make them feel free and make them learn more about subjects.
You can be sarcastic but it should not hurt the student’s feelings, we have to smile just because your teachers, we have to act as if we are giving you the respect, In reality, you know what is happening we cry inside.
Please even if you can’t make us happy it’s ok but please don’t hurt.
“The Influence of good teaching can never be erased the same applies to bad Influences”
4.Be a Listener.
Yeah, We all get it as a teacher you have to be talking a lot. But Sometimes we wish you hear us for at least one time.
Don’t judge us before we talk.
“The best teachers are those who show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see” – Alexandra K. Trenfor
5. You need not do everything your teacher did to you.
Back in those days things were different we all have got beatings from teachers in school, we all have undergone the pain of humiliation.
In colleges, we would have been a victim to some ragging(bullying) gang, but we would have been the first batch who stopped ragging even if it was fun. The generations will talk about it and our juniours will stop that ragging thing just because we did.
So let’s be a change, History will talk about us.
Remember Dr.Sarvepillai Radhakrishnan, You think He was harsh to his students?
Accept the students for who they are.
You should first accept Grades are just numbers, not life. Build your students with confidence especially when they attend their board exams.
“True teachers are those who help us think for ourself .” – Dr.Radhakrishnan
Conclusion
Last but not least “Be an Example”.
I am writing this just because few teachers changed my life, One among them is Mr.Harikrishnan(5th grade Class teacher), Who gave me confidence in writing when I was that shy student who can never raise my voice, So he told me to write whatever I feel.
Someday, Somebody without notice will come to you and tell you because of you I am here, visualise that minute and see.
p.s- This was created by 7 of us(Jennifer, Ramya, Gracey, Preethi, Santhosh, Prem ) Thanks for helping me with this.
Featured Image by NEXT Academy