Look Beyond The Teacher
Posted by LoveCause on Monday, 7 April, 2008 @ 2:01 am
Parents make critics look stupid when it comes to public criticism of teachers. Children go home with various versions of a story and parents react differently to each. They meet up in malls, at hair salons, on sports fields … and verbally start stoning teachers to death; and all this because they get to know teachers through the mouths of their children.
Give or take, no parent will be able to stand in the shoes of a teacher and prove to be different. They don’t spend at least six to eight hours in a room with thirty to forty different types of personalities (never mind the age), for several months on end.
Parents are the role models in accepting teachers as professionals who assist their children in the processes of learning. If parents show no respect, children do likewise. And it’s in the classroom where all the disrespect seeps out. Teachers know through children’s behaviour when parents defame or accredit them.
Teachers have different personalities and therefore have different views of presenting a lesson, giving assignments, and handling classroom conduct and behaviour. What is acceptable to one teacher might be less acceptable to the next. This is why parents and children should never compare teachers.
No matter how unique or different one teacher is from another, they all battle with discipline and unruly behaviour on a daily basis. In every classroom there are troublemakers, which results in an ongoing struggle to keep the noise down and the class in control. Many strategies are needed, the best being to create the conditions in the class that will prevent disciplinary problems.
Schools and human-made noise go hand in hand. Noise affects people physically and emotionally. And this is something a parent never considers when stories are brought home. Being tormented by constant noise throughout the morning - high-pitched laughter, shouting, screaming, outbursts of laughter, whistling, footsteps running in the corridor, suitcases being thrown or dragged, messages over the intercom system, chairs and tables scraping across the floor, different voices and conversations, doors being slammed shut, a name being called … - takes the joy out of a day. It drains a teacher and causes stress, fatigue and irritability. Noise gradually wears down resistance to any disturbance. Even when there is a bit of quiet, teachers sit in anticipation, waiting for the noise to start again.
After all is said and done, teachers are ordinary people, just like parents. And a parent’s role compared to the teacher’s is even more important than we could ever imagine. A parent has the power to help his child to look beyond the teacher and become a role model in class helping her achieve her lesson outcomes for the benefit of all.
Tags: discipline, lesson, noise, parents, personalities, public, role models, sports, story, teaching