Nobody's perfect
And when you are a teacher, it
becomes even more difficult to become perfect for ALL your students. It's
clear, that we all are different, so your students are, and each of them has
his own learning style. When your teaching style suits a learning style of your
student, you will definitely become his best teacher ever. This is like to be
on the same wave with someone. But it's obvious, that all your 30 students (or
20, or even 10, it doesn't matter actually) will never have the same opinion
about your teaching methods, so, misunderstandings are impossible to avoid.
However, you always can become a better teacher for your students, the main thing is to listen to them carefully. Here
we have 10 advice from students to teachers, that will help you understand
their principles better. You teach them of course, but you can always let them
teach you a bit as well, can't you?
So, if you want to become the
best teacher for your students, you'd better not ignore what they say.
Let Your Students Help You Be a Better
Teacher for Them
1 1.
A
good teacher is an assertive teacher
Your students can have
problems, bad days, stress, or even depressions as well. If you see that some of your students start to study
worse, have no desire to do all schoolwork you give them, and just want to give
up everything, do not be in a hurry to argue and tell them about how bad or
lazy they become. You can become like a parent to them. Support your
student, ask about what happens to him, push him to do better. If you see that
your student is depressed, maybe it would be better to meet with him after
classes and find out what exactly is going on.
2.
Be
their friend but not too far
Students just don't like when
their teacher starts behaving like a student himself. Stay
professional, help students with schoolwork, listen to them, talk about their
lives, but remember who you are. Even if you are a young specialist, and you
are almost of the same age with your students, there is no need to use all
those slang words (even if you use them in your everyday life). Your
students will find it rude and unprofessional. As far as you understand, this
is not the best method to get a good reputation. Your students just will not
take you seriously.
3.
Make
your lesson relevant to their life
If you want your students to
remember your lessons, just try to connect the information you provide with
some moments of your students' life. You can use some
of them as an example, describing this or that situation: it would be more
interesting for them to visit such lessons, but not those boring ones where you
try to explain them the importance of differential equations for our science. Just
try to come up with an example, how these differential equations can help THEM
in the future.
4.
Your
time should be used wisely.
Remember who you are and
where you are. Students
don't like, when their teacher begins to tell them about his life, how better
it was when he was younger, how better and more patient all students were then,
blah-blah-blah. Your student visits your lesson to learn something on the
subject, so, don't give him a reason to miss this class next time. Remember, that time is important for your students as well, so, they
would not be happy to waste it for lessons which don't give them anything
except personal stories from their teacher's life.
5.
More
explanations
Even if you consider
yourself a cool teacher who explains everything in a way that even the
stupidest person would understand you, don't be lazy to explain it to your
students several times, and what is even more important – try to do that in
different manners. Sometimes,
they really don't get it, but it's not because they are stupid: maybe some of
them just think different. Be patient, and explain your
material over and over again, making sure all students understand what you're
talking about. You know, how difficult it will be for them to learn further, if
they don't get the basis.
6. Teach in a variety of times
Don't be lazy to use as
many different materials for your lessons as possible. Students believe that the best teacher is able to teach in a big variety of ways:
use books, videos, music, presentations, speeches, and everything that can be
interesting for your students to accept (you know them better, so, you will
definitely come up with good ideas).
If you show them a video, then
give some papers with facts described in that video, then tell them all this
info yourself, it will be much easier for your students to understand and get
the material.
7. Be firm!
It doesn't
mean you should be a dictator. But students do not like teachers who are too soft and mild. Too nice is not always nice, especially
when it comes to teaching. There are always some students in a class (we think,
you remember all those movies about high schools), who will try to persuade you
that they do not need the material you give. Don't make a sad face like that
Okay meme on the Internet has! Just
stay consistent!
8. A good teacher always
has objections
When you
start a lesson, make your students understand clearly what they will learn
today.You should have clear objectives, as such a plan will help students concentrate and know
what they are supposed to do during this class. You can write something like “do nows” on the board, or
just tell them your plan step by step.
9. Be a good example for
your students!
One
student has told us a story about his teacher, who always brought tasty organic
food and shared it with those students who didn't bring lunch with them. He looked younger and very energetic, and
some students changed their mind about what they age, because they just wanted
to look like a teacher. This
is an example of a teacher who influenced his students positively. If you
follow this advice, your students will thank you.
10. Believe in them!
Don't
ignore your student, if you see he is not interested in your subject, or he
doesn't understand anything. Just try to believe in everyone, and
don't leave any of your students behind. Ask each of them to explain what exactly they don't like or
understand, explain this once again, make sure they've got it this time. It is
very important for a student to feel the support of his teacher and know, that
he will always help when it is needed.
