Gateway to Horizon

Teachers and businessmen are similar in some ways. Dedication and hard work for example are essential for a business to thrive, the same goes for teaching. To become a successful educator, you must have the passion, dedication and appropriate skillset. It is amazing how small-business ventures can depict life-long lessons for an aspiring educator. This article highlights some characteristics that seem parallel to both business and teaching professionals which I realize during our stint as student teachers in U.P. Integrated School.

Topnotch products and services are basic components of a successful business. To achieve such, workers must undergo necessary training and equipping. In the same way, acquiring the right skills is necessary before one can jump-start a teaching career. You can facilitate a class only if you know what you’re going to teach. A detailed lesson plan helps yet that serves only as a guide. A good teacher is adaptable and listens to his/her students, you have to be willing to skip or even add something to the outline you made if the situation calls for it. One thing I learned, you should not let ideas from your students slide. In those circumstances, presence of mind is very important.

Moreover, it is important to note that students feel if their teacher is unprepared or rattled, pressure doubles unfortunately if you’re facing intelligent kids like the pupils of UPIS. Composure is one of the many traits I need to work on. I intend to do so by thorough preparation and constant practice. Apart from boosting my confidence, this will teach me voice control. True enough, “The biggest room in the world is the room for self-improvement.”

As a student teacher of Grade 5-Makiling, I realize that one cannot be too prepared. You have to know not just that day’s lesson. If you’re teaching language skills for instance, knowledge of, if possible, all the grammar rules is a must. Likewise, you have to arm yourself with multiple examples to make the lesson easy to understand. Choice of material is just as crucial as the conceptualization of activities to be accomplished. It must be creative and really engaging but not too gimmicky. In addition, every time students were asked to do something, complete instructions must be given beforehand.

Stimulating the students thinking and letting them speak their mind are yet another takeaways for my professional development. Socrates himself once said “I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.” Our demo made me realize that it’s good to get rid of too much teacher talk. Not only will it help me conserve my voice, dialogic learning experience is in fact correlated to better retention. It’s best to elicit the desired learning competencies from the students rather than spoon feeding. Teachers’ role after all is to guide. We simply provide access to information and shouldn’t act as if we’re the sole source of knowledge. Apart from encouraging academic freedom, less teacher talk will also give way to more student-teacher interaction as well as fun field activities. Learning is a collective experience. Clearly, fun makes that experience worth remembering for kids.

Teaching and running a business were different in nature, but are undoubtedly parallel in some ways. Like a businessman who knows his target market, a teacher should know his students. As an aspiring educator, I should know the language my students speak, the games they play, and even the TV programs they watch. More than calling each of them by their given names, understanding their preoccupation and learning to identify with the transitions they go through as children is important, such is instrumental for better classroom management. In particular, I’ve learned that I should never try to outshout my students. Shouting is not only ineffective but is also toilsome. It is opposed by educational psychologists and is evidently not practical. Additionally, it is important to always be aware of the time and my class’ schedule. Being mindful of this is necessary to avoid overtime. One of the best ways to teach kids respect is by showing them good example, and I should start by respecting their time. Task delegation on the other hand is a practical way to let the students divert their extra energy. It is a good way for me to establish authority over my students without resorting to unwarranted punishments.

Another characteristic of a successful businessman and an effective teacher is they both learn from their mistakes. The first day of my teaching demo isn’t good at all, contrary to what I thought it would be given our thorough preparation. Things don’t always go as planned, but silver lining may be found even in the darkest clouds. It is fair to say that both our mentors, Teachers Maita and Mia were abundantly reassuring, thanks to their guidance. Being surrounded with the right people is important. As inexperienced as I am, applying the tips provided by my superiors and classmates helped me on our group teaching’s second session. True enough, progress is possible only if one is receptive to coaching opportunities.

Our stint as student teachers is something to cherish, a very insightful two day practice that is. I’ll consider and utilize that experience as a springboard in becoming a licensed professional. As the saying goes, “Experience is the best teacher.” I’ll devote myself to teaching strategies that are proven to work but will also employ unorthodox techniques to counter students’ boredom and ensure collaborative learning, just as a good businessman invests to undertakings that are though risky have guaranteed returns.