Teaching has a long and noble history. From ancients up to the educators of today, teachers have made a huge impact on the world around them. Almost everyone remembers one or more teachers fondly, and some people credit a particular teacher with their success in life. Teachers are hugely influential, many times in a positive way but sometimes in a negative way too. Teachers can inspire her students to greatness or they can inadvertently give inaccurate information that will stick with their student for a life time.
Being a teacher is a special calling. It takes a kind yet firm heart. It can also take a person who basically believes in the goodness of all people. A cynical teacher can cause borderline student to lose faith and give up. On other hand, a positive and perspective teacher can help a student turn her life around and begin to meet her potential. Just having a positive attitude is not enough, though. A teacher relies on many special skills.
In a completely rational society, the best of us would aspire to be a teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less, because passing civilization along from one generation to the next ought to be the highest honor the highest responsibility anyone could have. ‘’Teaching can be a stressful and sometimes a thankless job but when a teacher finally does see that he is making a difference, he receives a reward like no other. Teaching is a truly a cumulative activity. One of the main reasons that new teachers have such tough time in the beginning is that they do not feel comfortable in their position because of their lack of experience, they make some very common mistakes like making friends with students or being lax in term of discipline before they even enter the field.
The school culture is like no other industry because of unique nature of its product. Not everyone is cut to teach. However, if you feel the calling and you work to improve yourself, you can be an effective teacher who truly makes a difference in her student’s lives as Henry Adams said. A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.’’
Effective Teaching is a both a science and an art. Formal education can lay the foundation through examination of various theories of teaching but nothing can replace the experience of being out in trenches. The art of teaching comes mainly from observation and experience. The first step to becoming an effective teacher is to have a clear picture of what teaching s really like.
Education is in state of flux. It commonly believed, whether accurately or not, that something is seriously wrong with education around the world. Politicians often run on education reform platforms. Reform is also a common topic on talk shows and news report.
Many of the proposed reforms don’t provide solutions. They merely offer a bandage for battered system of education. Education reforms are like swings of a pendulum. If you have been in education long enough, reforms that you thought were long forgotten will be revived, dusted off and given a new coat of paint. As a teacher, you should be prepared to see your school jump on the reform bandwagon at some point. While many reform movements have good points adopting them can cause problems. School systems often invest a lot of time, effort, and money into a specific reform. With all this investment, it can be hard for schools to admit if a reform does not work as a planned.
By: Venus R. Reyes
