It's Easy to Forget

I'm sure everyone agrees that a teacher should be patient and kind. That's common sense as we deal with children or teenagers on a daily basis, and these are a group of people who are still immature and rebellious. They do things to you that make you feel like strangling them... sometimes. At other times, you just wish you were somebody else in a different profession altogether. So, patience is undisputedly the most important virtue for a teacher.

But teachers are humans, too. We get bogged down with work, despite the illusion that we just work half day. We have feelings and self-respect, because we are not machines and robots. So, we get stressed up if we come into the class, all ready to teach, but find out eventually that students prefer to fool around rather than appreciate our carefully planned-out lesson. It's okay if it happens once in a while, but if this goes on every time you enter that class, you will eventually reach your breaking point too, I'm sure. That's when we turn into Godzillas, letting them know we are angry and hoping to scold them into submission.

This may work once or twice, but if used continually, students will grow 'immune' to it, and things will pretty much be the same as before. Students can also be deeply hurt by what we say to them, which is something we won't be aware of at the heat of the moment, but it can stay on with them for a long time, affecting their character and attitude in future. They may even feel more negatively towards us and be more rebellious in the future.

Common sense tells us that we should be patient with our students, but we always forget. This has also been my most recent experience. There was always so much negative energy around the class that I always came out of it feeling frustrated. I'm sure my students felt the same way, too. I would sometimes regret the harsh words I said to them as well. Negative energy just sucked the life and enthusiasm out of everyone. When I realised my students were getting more and more disinterested with the lessons, I decided that it was time to put a stop to this. I decided to bring in more positive energy. I tried to be more cheerful and relaxed in class, giving positive comments whenever possible, and smiled more. Not surprisingly, it worked. Seeing me more relaxed and enthusiastic, students were also more engaged and cooperative in class. At the end of the day, I felt satisfied that my lessons worked. Everyone was happier.

This is something I've learnt over the years, but tend to forget, especially when stress creeps in. Hopefully, this time around, I will not repeat the same mistake again. Experience is always a good teacher. In fact, all teachers should remember that a kind word does more wonders than a thousand harsh words.