As schools open the usual concerns are focused on physical needs such as classrooms, desks, books and the like. But more important than all these is the teacher. What are the qualities of a good teacher? The answer is suggested in the following reminders culled from The Art of Greatest Charity, a book by this writer.
Source of guidance. Know that your children look up to you for guidance. They are young, and are in their formative years. Their minds and hearts are very receptive to ideas and concepts you teach them. And even those you do not directly teach, but which they observe in you, these they learn. Take care therefore what you teach them. Take care too of how you behave in their presence. Should you make the mistake of imparting to them distorted concepts, you forfeit your noble mission.
Please remember: A wrong idea carelessly implanted upon the young is difficult to get rid of. Throughout the child's lifetime this will be a directive force in his thoughts and actions. And it could become a factor in his ultimate downfall. On the other hand, a wholesome idea learned and internalized will forever become a part of the child's personality, and could be a major factor in his achievements in later years.
The teacher's first job. Your first job is to make your children love you, or at least, like you. This is necessary because a child is not disposed to learn from somebody he does not like. You, with your mature experience and seasoned outlook, exudes a guiding force upon your children during your day to day interaction with them, and the latter will be receptive only to such force if they open themselves up. If they don't, the force simply bounces back. No change occurs. No learning happens.
How can you make your pupils love you? If you are a lovable person, such love will be felt without your trying to. But if you are not, it is a difficult job. Yet everyone can learn to be lovable, for everyone can effect a change on himself. What is a lovable person? St. Paul has the answer. "Love is patient and kind, it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill-mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fails".
A tall order, you might say. But the one who wrote this was at one time in his life not only unlovable, he was the nemesis of the early Christians. What changed him? The grace of God. In your quest for a lovable self your greatest instrument is faith in God. Pray hard that he would grant you the grace to be a lovable person. Pray that he would make you the instrument of his love in the classroom.
Being friendly. A teacher who loves her children is friendly to them. She always finds time to interact with them informally outside the class hours. She listens to their talks and shows keen interest in what they are doing. Sometimes she helps them in their lessons; sometimes too she tells them about herself and her family life, her childhood or just about anything that interests their young minds.
Such strategy breaks down the psychological wall that normally exists between the learner and the learned, between the follower and the leader, and teacher and pupils get a chance to really know each other. On the part of the teacher, what she gathers from out of such friendly interplay of personalities will give her a keen insight into the character traits of her pupils, thus enabling her to adjust her treatment of each pupil according to such traits.
Teaching, a mission. To develop that state of mind when you genuinely feel you are the "mother" or "father" of all your children is difficult. Even if your children do not give you any headaches because they are well-behaved, that feeling is still hard to come by. How then are you to acquire this disposition?
A firm resolve to become such person to your children could be the start of it all. But a resolution without the help of an outside force would have little effect. That outside force could come from your coworkers, especially your superiors. If your relationship with your coworkers is a congenial one, you are likely to be happy in your job, and such state of mind makes you well disposed to love your children.
But a greater and more important force is your relationship with the Lord. If you are close to him because you have tried to live as he wants you to live, then you cannot help but treat your children as your own. When you are in this frame of mind, your being a teacher becomes a personal mission. In everything you do in the classroom, the interest of each and every child therein becomes your paramount concern.
Whether you are teaching the academic subjects or the non-academic ones, your focus is always on the children: Their growth and formation into good individuals, well-equipped in basic learning and motivated to use that learning for the good of their fellowmen.
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Email: edioko_uv@yahoo.com