“We must teach the students we have, not the students we want.”
I frequently hear my colleagues (Well, I am somewhat guilty on this) in the faculty room about how their classes began and ended riotously, or worse, dreadfully. And often than not, we constantly vent about how our students don’t come to school prepared, how poor their study habits are, how they always look for the easiest way to acquire grades, how they manage to cheat if necessary, how they are so uninterested in learning what we love to teach, or how they are so different from students we had before. Yes, venting these quandaries to trusted fellow teachers may have a good point; that is, giving us other options or better perspectives in the way we look at things, but, sometimes it evolves to complaining and, this becomes unhealthy.
As teachers, we cannot pass a day without seeing our students, dealing with them and trying our best to teach them. And sometimes, it takes a great deal on us if our expectations are not met, our goals are not achieved, as if we did nothing for them to learn. At times, we begin to be frustrated and disappointed that these negative feelings bounce back. Unconsciously, how we see our students every day and what we say about them become how we think about them; thus, greatly affect how we teach. Of course, if we don’t like a certain class or two, there is a strong tendency to come to class unprepared, in “beast mode” (just to air our disgust) or teach in a half-hearted way. And this is like, unfair to them, right?
True, dealing with millennial students at present is challenging. Some have short attention span, some do very little work, some are even branded as “laidback”, and some are not paragons of virtues anymore. They tend to google anything that they want to know, leaving “us” feeling neglected. Still, they deserve to obtain the knowledge that we are the only ones qualified to do. Our conversations should at least, be an exchange of what kinds of learning environments these students need to learn, grow and succeed in school, and later, in life.
Too much negative talk about how poor or substandard our students are,is like a secondhand smoke—difficult not to inhale and dangerous to our mental health. Let us give ourselves space where the air is cleaner. Don’t give in to teachers who unpleasantly view students and affect those who care about them and are committed to teach them. We are already stressed from “paperless” work, so why give ourselves more?
We have a great responsibility. A responsibility to impart knowledge, to set good examples, and to sculpt students to become better citizens of this nation. Even those students without sufficient set of skills, knowledge or motivation are still people—people for whom committed teachers can make a difference.Remember: “Children learn best when they like their teacher and they think their teacher likes them.” So let us cease on too much venting; instead, start being there for them.
By: MRS. VILMA S. FERNANDO | Master Teacher I | Bataan National High School | Balanga, Bataan
