BEING A TEACHER

Teachers should not have to compete with each other’s voices. If one is talking too loud the teacher in the next class has to drown her voice.. It becomes a vicious circle. ALL teachers tend to talk far too loud in order to overtake the other teachers.

Many such bright young men went on to have lucrative careers in the Mercantile sector, often ending up as CEOs of their companies. One or two of them were my fellow colleagues for a year and actually  made excellent teachers. But their talents were used to further the business side of our island. 

By Goolbai gunasekara 

“A good teacher may cost a lot but a poor teacher will cost the most,” is an axiom the Dept. of Education would do well to consider.To many teaching is just a job. It is   used as a stop gap till something better comes along. Nearly 70 years ago I started my own teaching career and I have loved every moment of it.

At that time (in the 1955’s ) there was a custom whereby young, newly minted male graduates would take up teaching for a year . They had to teach for the full year since wily  Principals placed them under contract. Principals had to be careful that these young men did not leave the minute they got a better paying job…and let’s face it. Almost every job was better paying!!  Unfortunately women graduates generally did not have the same wide choice of alternate employment as did their male counterparts.

Many such bright young men went on to have lucrative careers in the Mercantile sector, often ending up as CEOs of their companies. One or two of them were my fellow colleagues for a year and actually  made excellent teachers. But their talents were used to further the business side of our island. 

This is a problem all over the world EXCEPT in Finland where teachers are the highest paid Civil Servants!. Teachers in Finland cannot begin to teach without a Master’s Degree. We can easily understand why Finland has made it to the top   as far as educational standards go.

It might be of interest to get to strategies that teachers can use to enhance their performance. Earlier in this column I gave a few helpful basic rules  for teachers. I will now  list a few more ‘tricks’ teachers can employ which will make classes more enjoyable for pupils  and  teaching pleasanter for them.

A teacher must ‘Read Around’ the topic for the lesson. She should know something that is not in the textbook. For example a chapter on the Crimean War contains the Charge of the Light Brigade, immortalised by Tennyson’s famous poem. It is a dramatic story but it gets even more dramatic if children are told of the animosity existing between generals and common soldiers based on class distinctions of England. Generals  and all Superior Officers of the British Army at that time  came from the aristocracy while better men were overlooked. This antagonism led to the misunderstanding that ended in that fatal Charge. Tell the class the story that lies BEHIND the event.  Their attention is guaranteed.

Teaching gimmicks are possible in every subject. Even Mathematicians are reporting some mesmerising  methods in teaching.

Let me get to Punishments – always a problem for a teacher. Silly punishments like giving lines are now outdated. A punishment must fit the crime. One teacher I know had a child in her class who was never prepared for a test. He seemed backward but she knew he had ability. She gave up a Saturday morning and told this recalcitrant youngster that he had to prepare three questions which she would test him on. He had to  turn up at school on a Saturday too of course. He did not dare  come unprepared and so passed well gaining high marks in all three questions. The thrill of achievement never left him and he did very much better afterwards.

Another bad habit teachers have is speaking too stridently. Children do not react well to a loud voiced teacher. It is grating on the ears.  And yet noise levels in schools can be so high most teachers feel the need to shout in order to be heard. Noise is a factor Principals must cope with.

 I used to tell teachers to begin their lessons in a soft voice. Children will quieten down to hear what is being said. In fact a teacher standing silently in front of a class before starting to speak can be far more effective than telling the students  to be quiet.

Teachers should not have to compete with each other’s voices. If one is talking too loud the teacher in the next class has to drown her voice.. It becomes a vicious circle. ALL teachers tend to talk far too loud in order to over- take the other teachers.

Teachers should look smart. Sloppy dressing indicates a sloppy attitude. Neatness (not high fashion) is 

the criteria.

One of my lecturers in University had a class of nearly 150 students. She was young ( and very smart) and had just returned from Oxford we were told. As she entered the lecture room she asked if would like to learn snappy abbreviations.“Yes’ we chorused captivated. We were introduced to ‘ PDQ’ which translated  meant ‘Pretty Damn Quick’ and a few other catchy phrases. It was an imaginative start to English  lecturing enacted  by a born teacher. Her classes were immensely popular.

One last thought here is what can be done with a child who has been a good student but is now seemingly flagging. One unusual solution is to double promote such  a child. I sometimes found that the child in question is  getting bored in class and  does better faced with a challenging situation. This double promotion act has worked for me at least 4 times in my long teaching career. I do not recommend it until other factors like home or psychological problems are taken into account.

Teaching well implies thorough knowledge of subject  plus knowledge of a little basic child psychology.  In  good teachers much of the psychological knowledge has to be instinctive. High salaries for Sri Lankans may bring about a class of teachers whose better training helps them to be the fine teachers Sri Lankan children deserve.

Sri Lankans are a clever race. Let us ensure Sri Lankan brains are utilized to the fullest.