Truly Teaching Students - Part 1

When you enter into the realm of an education career, especially when you are in charge of directly teaching young minds, there can be a fine line between being too much of a teacher and too much of a friend to the students. Being too "buddy buddy" with a student can be a hindrance to the teaching process, and likewise, being too cold and distant with the students will be also. As a teacher, you must be able to communicate with the student, and produce not only knowledge, but a habit of mind, which is the most important.

Facts can go "in one ear and out the other," but to instill a habit of mind is a way to see the facts stick with the student for a lifetime. It is not just teaching the cold hard facts, but is a way of life that instills in the student a respect for logic and evidence, and a desire to continue learning for life. Students need to taught how to be inquisitive and always find new things within what may be familiar data; to expand beyond the surface level facts that many think is the end, and to desire to dig deeper and learn new levels of knowledge about things.

Another important aspect of successfully connecting with your students is to maintain a high level of integrity when dealing with others. These traits, which would include things like honesty, decency and high principle, are a part of it, but likewise is the trait of completeness; self-confidence with your personal identity that is exhibited to the students also. Students are young and tend to struggle with finding who they are and gaining self-confidence, and they often look to educators as a model; those who have learned to control the pressures and issues of life, rather than be controlled by them. As an educator, it is not the goal to put on a mask that makes you seem like one with no issues, but rather to be real, and display confidence and joy even while fully grasping your own frailties. Educators should be more than warm bodies churning out cold facts, but should seek to be a genuine person assisting other younger persons to grasp and overcome the marks of adolescence that they are dealing with.

The ability to communicate is another aspect of great teaching, and requires you to obviously like young people, but also to be able to enjoy the noisiness that comes with the passions of youth, and the intense questioning that eager minds can display. It is the ability to truly listen to their questions and concerns, and meet them where they are and provide them with confidence in themselves, and to entice them into pushing further in their learning. It is the ability to see the dignity within them, and to nurture them, not mock or degrade them for their youthful ways.

In my next part, I will look at ways in which teachers can touch and fuel this idea of a students dignity and self confidence, which can lead to a standard and style that cultivates a better learning environment.

Jeff McCormack resides in Virginia Beach, VA. where he works as a web designer by day. In his off time he is a husband, father, mail order book store manager, and musician. Aside from being a freelance writer for this Education Jobsite blog, he also seeks to assist in career choices and information by contributing to other Nexxt blog sites.