“Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you”. (Kahlil Gibran)
How many times have I explained!!! How many more times do I have to tell you? What is your problem? Can’t you understand simple English? If you had just listened instead of talking to your friends, you would have understood it. I cannot repeat or You clear with someone else..OK…”
This could be the typical refrain in classrooms. A teacher could be confident about certain things like - “I can stand in front of a group of students with confidence, I am able to explain the content comparatively better. I possess, to some extent, the skill to manage students sitting in the class. and like that”
This is ok. But, sorry to say, majority of the teachers from this part are the captives of their ego. Various factors contribute to this ‘teacher ego’. You are thinking yourself that “I am a teacher”, the connotation is – “I am here to teach you, you are supposed to listen. I am the Guru, I have answers for every question, mine is the last word, I am here to correct you all, and you all have to obey”.
There are some students who don't like us -- and there will always be some who don't. At this juncture what should the teacher do? Here they have to take it as a challenge, “how to work, how to get along, how to enter into the minds of children, how to build mutual trust, how to enter into their first degree friend’s circle”, ask such questions to oneself and evolve some practical equations setting with some achievable objectives.
Instead of using your authority to feed your ‘ego’, you can enjoy by extending it through controlling and giving instructions or directions to the children. It is in an environment where students helped each other where 'I' became almost unseen that it helped me professionally to detect the block of ‘teacher ego’. Over a methodical introspection of my other quarters, (as lecturer, performer, actor, narrator etc), which includes identifying, questioning, analyzing, critically evaluating, I brought my teacher ego under a microscope. I went one more step further and asked my students to give me the feedback. Finally I arrived at the conclusion that there were many times my class was better in which I more or less disappeared (not physically), reduced my position to a mere contributor and when students worked successfully in a concerted way.
The students learn not just the readymade stuff in the name of the content. They ought to learn the highest aspects of human nature and behavior that go towards living in harmony with oneself and the environment. You are not just the facilitators of their learning, but also, in a sense, a subject/object of their study. Remember they are with you for five to six hours every day.
They see you, they hear your voice, they observe you, they interpret your actions or behavior and the thoughtful response they arrive at from this is the substance they comprehended from the whole.
(The author is principal, Habitat School, Ajman, UAE)
