“Liking a teacher can help with learning. It kind of ruins a subject if you don’t like the teacher. I never liked history at all. But this year I have a really cool teacher, and so even if it’s hard, even if I don’t do well on tests, I’m starting to like it more.”– Cushman

Although teachers play just as a facilitator in students’ path on learning, teachers may be a nice catalyst in the learning chemical reaction. Teachers join the reaction but are the products of the students’ learning.

For example, the student I shadowed in Essex Street Academy told me that she didn’t like the course, analysis of literature, but she liked the teacher. As soon as I sat in the classroom, I would say I like the teacher too! The teacher was very energetic and gave many critical thinking questions for students to ponder their responses based on the reading they did as homework. I was impressed how good the teacher was to ask these higher order thinking question with lots of intriguing ideas. I didn’t like literature at all in schools but now; honestly, I want to audit this class. The teacher brought thought-provoking perspectives to students to reflect on the book.

In addition, I got some similar feedbacks from my students at my student teaching placement. There were some low-performance, low-motivation students. In order to provide more assistance and more, importantly, encouragement, I frequently walked and checked with them. They didn’t want to learn or do any works at all in the beginning and always argued they didn’t understand what to do and how to do. I tried to learn some of phrases of their dialects to build up common ground and showed my care about their daily life besides the classroom.

Gradually, they started doing assignments although the assignments were below passing standard. I would offer them some extra credits works to meet the score of passing benchmark, making them feel paying off their efforts and building on their confidence in learning. The very first time these kids raised hands to answer questions, I was so proud of them for stepping out of their comfort zones.

One day, one of my students, J, told me that another student, K only came to school for my class, since it was the most interesting one in his day. Those words made my day and my career choice. Seeing low-performance, low-motivation students gradually become engaged, confident, and even look forward to attend my class is my best reward for this job. Students can feel my care and contribution but not merely the title of a teacher.