Communication needs to be two-way. We need to give students time and space to verbalize their concerns and needs. Teachers not only teach, but also act as peers in the communication practice, thus developing personal skills and cultivating team spirits among students who will make positive role later in the workplace, or in their lives. Students with adequate two way communication training in earlier stage will make a total difference in their lives because the skills acquired from the school become a habit. A good habit will always yield best result.
It is especially important for teachers to be visible and approachable. Teachers need to treat students with respect and show concerns for their personal and academic well-being.
Teachers need to provide direction. But a teacher cannot do everything. A teacher allows for participation in the classroom. This allows students to have a say in what is meaningful for them and what is not. In this way we are all in this together in developing student𠏋 ability in independent thinking, in judgment and decision making as well as leadership.
It is imperative for teachers to identify every progress students make, and timely encourage students for their performance and behaviors in the class. No one wants to come to school to feel like a failure. One way to keep spirits up is to celebrate progress along the way rather than waiting for the completion of any tasks. This must be something that is very real and very significant in the dictionary of every teacher from kindergarten to graduate school.
Celebrating success can always inspire the whole class. Recognition of individual achievements can expand appreciation of school itself not only for the individual but also for the whole class. Students need acknowledgement. In times when society and the economy are struggling students need it more than ever. Every effort a teacher makes today can reduce an element of potential danger or threat to this society tomorrow. This is a self-evident truth exemplified by countless court cases.
Nothing brings students forward more than having teachers speak with them as valued human beings. Teachers need to make everyday connections with students. Treat them as your close friends and members of this "big Family". This is an effective way in training students in the sense of harmonic wholeness and is an active contributor to this society. Students need to learn to pay much more attention to the needs of society, rather than to the needs of individuals only. They need to appreciate the values of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, but also need to pay tribute to sacrifice, self-discipline, social responsibility, order and stability of the society we are living in, especially when a country is in critical moment of economic downturn and international standstill. All these need to be accomplished through appropriate motivation by teachers by adopting right approaches.
Motivation is contagious. So is dismal doom. Even self-motivated students in the classroom can wither away and perish in a demoralizing classroom without being identified and acknowledged and shared by the whole class. However, teachers cannot fake appreciation because students are aware of it and they know that if you speak with tongue on cheek. Nevertheless, it is true that it will take time to recognize student𠏋 individual abilities and talents, and to help each of them develop their specific path of growth.
Teachers that treat students with respect and show concern for their personal and academic well-being are most likely to be the most successful and have the most fun. A good teacher understands that relationship-building; education and creative thinking is key to getting students to try out new skills and to further their development. Helping students communicates to them that you care.
Teachers need to ask open-ended questions and not rush in with concluding remarks answering questions during student interaction. This communicates care. The students will remember what is taught in school, especially in the formative years. The wrong perception acquired from their teachers will have negative impact in student𠏋 life wherever they go, even bring harm to their community and the society at large. An elementary student in an Asian country was once told,You must know to cherish this opportunity to learn in school. In America, black kids had no opportunity to go to school. The student asked: why?
This was inappropriate and wrong for the teacher to do. When she meant to ask the student to be thankful for the opportunity to go to school,the teacher unintentionally planted hatred or discrimination seeds in the minds of the student. When this student grows up and immigrates to America, she might become a boss in private firm or in the government and she might violate the federal anti-discrimination law by refusing to hire or refusing to promote African Americans. In Asian culture, the students respect their teachers and accept whatever the teacher teaches them. In such case, a bad teacher is worse than no teacher at all. In the Chinese proverb, wu ren zi di, meaning to poison students.
Dialogue should be consistently maintained among students within the educational context so that they can come to understand how their attitudes affect others so that they can come to act in helping all who are oppressed. In this way we need to realize at the farthest horizon the world is our classroom.
In American society today, teaching cultural diversity in the school is a challenge as well as a reward. It just depends on what edge you place your sword. That is why cultural diversity is a required course for all teachers from kindergarten to graduate school. Unfortuntely, diversity is still only a lip service in some schools and workplaces.
(Co-author with Peterson B.Zhou, Ph.D)
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