For some reason known to the intellect, I trust the students I teach or I have taught. There is a guarantee that I shall continue to maintain trust in them. This species, called students, has been classified into many different labels.
Some fellow teachers call them good-bad, other will tend to fall for the intelligent-average-poor trilogy. Some see them as social and anti-social and some define them to be mannered and ill-mannered.
The popular classification is that of good or bad and intelligent or poor. I write as a teacher and the confessions are not meant to glorify my own being as a Good Teacher. My teachers trusted me; they had faith and assigned me with tasks that have added to my being. There is one more submission to be made. I fear that some of my ‘community members’ (teachers) shall refute this analogy and will opt to stay the same. We need an introspection; we need it badly.
Gagandeep Chauhan, one of the mentors I have, told me in a succinct manner what is wrong with the teaching community. He said: “Basically the modern trend of teaching is against the communication law. Many in the teaching fraternity are doing just one-sided communication. The sender is the teacher and the student is merely a passive recipient. No feedback, no space for cross communication and that is making the whole process a bogus thing.”
He bluntly stated: “It’s just because people who are getting included as teaching faculty have the least experience of life. Coming with bookish knowledge doesn't make anyone a teacher. The one who has an experience of life is a better one though.” He seems to say the truth. It is not the lack of skills or competence, it is the lack of empathy; absence in some cases.
He gracefully quoted Swami Vivekananda saying that education is already in the mind of child, schools, and colleges are just the agencies to bring that out.
One of all my trustworthy students is a leading blogger today and he acknowledges my role in his success. One who was not a talkative or outspoken one is opening a school and called me to guide all academic structure. He wants me to select his teachers and even the principal. There is one who had come home to bid farewell when you were leaving Amity and stayed at home to eat together and offered Namaz in the morning with prayer for you. There are those who say that they remember me and the sincerity with which I chased them to learn the best. They do say this all much aloud to the world. All this is the reward of Trusting them. No other thing could make them remember me. It is great to be a Teacher; it is a blessing to be a Trusted Teacher.
I often feel that a teacher is a strange being. While others can certainly put a limit on the number of people they can transform into goodness. A teacher, obsessive with his vision, believes that each of the students can be transformed. No stone is left unturned by the one who see students as the disciples who depend on him for a meaningful life. One can never shirk from the call of duty if the receivers are seen with empathy.
My Teachers are so loving and caring to me, as always, that I cannot think beyond being a good teacher. I teach to get trusted and I live to teach. A simple formula to exist. If you trust them all, they trust each other and ultimately, you help them in forging life-long bonds. The sense of belonging the head of the family has is the driving agent of creation of affection among all at home. Same is the power of a teacher in that one hour of the classroom.
It is not just or at all about the academic contribution you are making. They could go to google for contents and to private classes for completing the syllabus and be exam-ready. They come to a teacher for that mark of appreciation which looks like a star on the notebook. Reward and Motivation are directly related to each other. They should feel that when they come to you for small or big assistance, you won't disappoint them. It is nothing special, just humane.
I was given a movie to watch- Dead Poets Society and that remains one of the favourites. A student gave me that and said: "I see you in John Keating.". He was so humble and simple that I was surprised that he said such strong words to me. After watching the movie, I realised that "Trust Your Students" has to be the slogan of my existence as a Teacher. When I left the job at a school, I faced the most complex situation. The grade 09 students, who had watched the movie, did the real "O Captain" for me. They stood on their benches, around 30of them, and pleaded me not to leave them. I could not cry out to them but was moved to bliss.
Watch the Movie and Experience what does being a TEACHER mean!
You get back what you invest. Invest Trust-Get Trusted!
