Teach and be Taught

Not being in control of your class might sound like a scary thing. It doesn’t have to be. By actively involving and engaging your learners beyond the point of teaching them a subject – they might make your job much easier.

By allowing your learners to give input on how they would like the classroom should look and how lessons should be structured might give you some insight on how to change those aspects you dread at night after a horrible day at school. Trust in your learners’ abilities – they know what they want. Allow for open communication and reflection on issues that concern the learners and the lessons. After a session you should give the learners feedback on their academic performance, behaviour in class and their social interactions with other learners and you. Sending reports home on the previously mentioned aspects can foster a relationship with the parents and help to address possible problems that parents rather than teachers need to address.

Being empathetic towards learners and being understanding towards their contexts can also help learners to be open and give them more courage to engage in the classroom. The teacher should intervene when needed, provide tools for solving issues and be pro-bonding by encouraging learners to be interested in their peers’ personal lives. By having a birthday chart in class learners will remember the birthdays of other learners in the class and make them feel included and wanted in the classroom.

Structuring the physical classroom into a learner friendly space can also help to engage learners in their education and make them want to be in class. Activities for doing this can include decorating the class with posters that they made and setting class rules that everyone agrees and had a say on. Learners can also make posters about their cultures and religions and be given the opportunity by the teacher to explain and discuss this with other learners in the class. This might be a solution to possible discrimination and misunderstandings based of belief in class.

As a teacher it is your duty know and find out what resources you have at your disposal in your school. You should make the most of it. Using the resources like the internet and library at your school can show learners that do not get enough support at their homes that they can also gain access to information and that you support them in their education.

Being a teacher can be difficult – by seeing the learners as your children can make a huge difference in the dynamics in class. Treat them with respect and you will be respected; allow them to teach you and they will allow you to have taught.