Educating with love
When I was about to graduate and I was taking the last subjects, one of my teachers of Didactics of Education, made me see how young I was to teach. She also detailed personality traits that could be negative when it came to educating a student. For example, he mentioned that I was very nice and that I should be stricter, I should also be more serious. In fact, he talked about my physical appearance such as that I should tie my hair back, wear different type of clothes, shoes, jewelry, because supposedly those were "distractors" for the students.
You must change because you are very young and if you continue like this, the students are not going to pay attention to you or pay attention to you.
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Then I became another one. I put into practice the advice I had been given. I changed not only the way I dressed but also the way I was. The Nancy as a student was very different from the Nancy as a teacher. In my defense, I must say that I wanted to do my job in the best way, so I accepted any advice or criticism.
At that time I was teaching in a high school and in the first three months of the school year, I realized the mistake I was making: although the students respected me and were disciplined, I felt that they were afraid of me. They could not express themselves fluently, nor did they have the confidence to approach me and ask me a question.
So I took off the "disguise" I had become and went back to being the usual Nancy: simple, friendly, flexible, with loose hair and very enthusiastic, able to motivate the group. That made the difference, not only for me but also for them.
Every day I realized that I was gaining ground with them: they stayed to talk after class, they read novels without me setting them as homework, they invited other classmates from other sections to my classes, they even talked with me about very personal things. Not to mention that their grades went up and they were more disciplined.
One day, a student's mother came to school crying and asked to talk to me. When I went to see her, she told me that her daughter was missing, that she didn't know how or where to look for her. She said she came to me because she always talked about my class at home. I immediately contacted some of her friends and got them to tell us where she was. Her mother and I went looking for her. When we arrived, the girl did not want to go back to her mother, but I talked to her and made her see, from a story we had read, that these tantrums were typical of adolescence. You should go back to your mother, I told her and she listened to me.
Over the years, I met several students from that time who told me about the difference I had made in them:
_I didn't like to read, but after I saw class with you, now I love it.
They say that and I smile, because maybe I have made a change in them, but what I know for sure is that each of my students have made a difference in me.
All photographs are from my personal gallery and the text was translated with Deepl.
https://leofinance.io/threads/nancybriti1/re-leothreads-2fu1cs29n
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The teachers that I remember most fondly were those that I came to love as much as a friend, because of their pleasant way of teaching. It's a good thing that in the end you were you again. By the way, I didn't know you were a teacher, as well as an excellent writer. I'm glad to know that. Best regards, dear friend.
Yes, I am a teacher. And like you, I have fond memories of those teachers who did more than teach me, they motivated me to keep learning. In one way or another that is what I seek to do with my students. Thanks for commenting, my friend. Regards
This is a delightful story about being yourself, @nancybriti1. Everything went much better when you became authentic in your approach to the students and your representation of yourself. The story could have been developed a bit more. You kept our attention!
Thank you for sharing your creative nonfiction story in The Ink Well, and for reading and commenting on the work of other community members.
I never tire of repeating it: thanks to you for giving me the opportunity to grow. Greetings
Oh yes baby girl! Do you, do what makes you happy at every point in your life.
Nancy the Teacher I hope you’re doing great ma’am🥰🥰
That's right: we should never give up our essence! Thank you for commenting
Impressive and well written. You impacted so much in them and through your impact the students made great difference. There is nothing as worst as being a teacher and your students are scared of expressing themselves freely. It will make it difficult to know when a topic is understood and when it's not.
Great thing you went back to your simple old self when you realized the students weren't free with you other self. Well-done
@nancybriti1 for taking up that noble profession of nurturing the young ones.
It is true! Surely there are many teachers who seek to create fear, but teaching is not to fear, teaching is to motivate, to encourage, to create. Thank you for commenting