I guess it cannot be stressed enough that it is important for teachers to be role models and for teachers to practice what they preach. I think that in order to produce good students, teachers must have a good relationship with their students first. This of course requires teachers to have a good "moral vision".
That is to say, teachers must be able to see the moral significance of events, both minor and major, have in the long-term effects of students' experience in school, which directly influence their personal values and character and even the type of society which they will in the future help to shape and mould.
Besides having good moral vision, I think respect and concern are vital for a healthy student-teacher relationship. It is because if students do not experience their teacher as a warm person who respects and cares about them, they are most unlikely to be open to anything else which the teacher might want to teach, especially on values. Recall your primary and secondary days and I'm sure you can identify teachers whom you adore and inspired to be the line of education, and teachers who you dislike!
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7 comments:
True, except that you assume that pupils know what and whom to respect. Do they, especially at primary school?
I was already 14 in the Boys' Brigade, and, instead of respecting an officer who said we should go to a swim meet in order to "take part", we "hero worshipped" our boy ring-leader who said we were "the fighting fifth" (ie. Fifth Singapore Coy), and our going there was to win.
Tan Tai Wei
True, except that you assume that pupils know what and whom to respect. Do they, especially at primary school?
I was already 14 in the Boys' Brigade, and, instead of respecting an officer who said we should go to a swim meet in order to "take part", we "hero worshipped" our boy ring-leader who said we were "the fighting fifth" (ie. Fifth Singapore Coy), and our going there was to win.
Tan Tai Wei
Yes, it is important for teachers to foster a good relationship with their students. It would naturally develop a bond between the student and a teacher, and it will then be easier for teachers to impart good morals to their students.
Simple acts such as letting a student voice his or her opinion in class without the teacher interrupting, also preaches good morals such as respect.
As students are spending most of their days in school, it is important that they are exposed to good values and morals. This is where the teacher plays a very important role. And it is especially important that primary school students inculcate such morals and values, as it is the age between 7 to 12 where development takes place and where their foundation is laid.
Toodles, Nanthini (:
I do agree that teachers should develop a good relationship with students not only to understand them better, but to also enable our teachings to be communicated through to them more easily.
Recalling the days back when I was in Secondary school, when a teacher is respected and looked up upon by students, students tend to be more attentive during lessons, and see the teacher as their role model. Hence, I too agree that teachers should also be able to indentify the moral signifance of events, whether major or minor, because they do affect the personal growth of the student morally, intellectually and socially. Taking for instance, a minor event, when a teacher who is well liked by students and therfore respected, is late for a class. If this happens rarely, the students may not take it to heart, assuming that the teacher was delayed due to valid reasons. However, if it happens too often, it will not only reflect badly on the teacher but also, give students a wrong impression that it is alright to be late. This is especially true when students in Prmary schools are too young to differentiate what is right from wrong. Thus this teacher's lack of responsibility and punctuality will affect the personal development of the student's character directly.
Perhaps, it would be advisable for teachers to take note that their habits and manners are constantly being observed by students around them. Therefore it is important that teachers put their moral teachings into moral behaviour as a role model to the students. =)
I agree that it is very important for teachers to be good role models and for teachers to practice what they preach. I feel that good role models must have these qualities:
1.Apologize and admit mistakes
2.Follow through
-(a) be on time; (b) finish what you started; (c) don’t quit; (d) keep your word; and (e) don’t back off when things get challenging.)
3.Show respect to others
4.Be well rounded
-Great role models aren’t just “teachers.” They’re people who show curiosities and have varied interests. They’re great learners and challenge themselves to get out of their comfort zones.
5.Demonstrate confidence in who you are
In my opinion, i feel that if someone possesses the ebove qualities, then he or she will be
good role models who earn great respect from the children who believe in them and know they can do anything if they simply put their mind to it.
ariana
I agree with you that it is indeed important for teachers to have a good moral standing. Teachers absolutely have to be a good role model towards the students. Not only that, the parents and the entire community have this notion that teachers are supposed to have a good moral standing.
Let me just share with you an experience I had with one of my secondary school teachers. She was just a home economics teacher, but she had more life outside of school. She was involved in local television broadcasts as backup dancer (a traditional Malay one). A lot of my dancer friends look up to her as a role model.
In my opinion, she is either a good or a bad role model. In a way, the students found out about her outside involvements and came to respect her as a teacher with a social life (unlike the others who were so involved in school that they're lacking contact with the outside world). Some students emulate her footsteps; balancing between school and social life.
However, the bad thing was that some of the students bumped into her in clubs, dancing and drinking away. Now, I know that some might say 'she's human and she also has a life to lead' but think about it; How awkward would it be to tell her students to be good with a lifestyle like that? More importantly, people know her as the traditional Malay dancer-teacher and therefore assumed that she is in fact quite close to her roots (i.e. for a Malay; being conservative and traditional).
Shafiqah
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