What kind of a teacher do I want to be?

I remember a day at school facing a class of 16 children looking at me, ready to attack. It had never crossed my mind to ask myself what kind of a teacher I wanted to be, I was just there, on the alert, waiting for the bell to save me. One of the students was extremely disruptive, as always, and my reaction was to tell him to leave the class, which he refused to do. I tried to force him to leave, and before I knew, I was in war with the whole class. On the point of loosing the battle I called for the headmaster. The students were calmed down, I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and just then the “disruptive” student looked at me and made The Question: “Why do you teachers hate us?”

I had modeled my own behaviour in the classroom on the way that teachers had behaved when I was a student. I had placed greater importance on the views of superiors and colleagues than on those of the children. I had quickly fallen into the habit of blaming the children for everything that was going wrong never accepting any of the blame myself. I had turned into everything I had disliked in my teachers when I was at school.I had been all that until the incident woke me up from my lethargy.

What on earth had happened to me in a few years since I left school and transformed me into the cynical freak complaining day and night about students?! “My God, these kids are hopeless!”, “Don’t their parents teach them anything!” “School surely isn’t what it used to be” “If they don’t want to learn, there is nothing we can do!” Do I really want to be this kind of a teacher? ”, I asked myself and just looked back, “went” back to school, when I was on the other side, facing the teacher. And believe me, I found the answer.

“Children will never learn from someone they don’t like and respect.”

While some children are naturally enthusiastic about learning the vast majority needs their teachers to inspire them. But all children, no matter what, are prepared to give a good teacher a chance to do their job. As long as this job is done with love and patience.

We are engaged in the most inspiring occupation and if we start believing in ourselves and in our students we can make the difference! All we need is positive attitude and the willpower to become a good teacher. A teacher who loves what he teaches and those he teaches, who sets himself impossible goals, never gives up on students, inspires confidence, motivates and always keeps in mind that we are first friends and then educators.

A good teacher is knowledgeable and up to date in his subject area and never pretends to know it all. He is able to explain and describe things as simply as possible. Showing off in the classroom is the worst thing a teacher can do. I clearly remember that one of the things I hated most at school was when the teacher made me feel stupid. No one questions our academic qualifications and the children are not there to applaud and admire us. They have come to us to learn! And they will only learn in a class where they can relax and where the teacher creates an atmosphere of mutual trust, respect, confidence and sincerity. When students believe in their power, when they respect and trust their teacher, they can do wonders. If a student enjoys a lesson and feels confident and comfortable, no matter how difficult the subject is, he/she will learn. And the teacher will have left his mark in their soul, their mind and their personality, taking a step towards immortality.