INSPIRING TEACHERS

It has been about 15 years since I was a student at Pondok Modern Darussalam Gontor Ponoro, East Java, Indonesia.We have all had them - amazing teachers who have inspired us to achieve things we did not know we were capable of.

We still have them - dedicated men who give so much of themselves to us, teaching us and then on top of that, educating us, running the boarding school, or staying behind to educate and develop students’ skill, knowledge and experience: the teachers that mentor the new and inexperienced teachers, and the ones that run the professional development.

High teaching standards are the key to giving students the education they need and deserve for their future. Of all the things a government can do to improve students’ learning, the most effective is to provide quality teachers.

What does it mean by standards?

 A great teacher knows both the content of their subjects back to front, and how best to teach that content to their students.
 Effective teachers understand the learning needs of their students. They can manage their classrooms and expect good behavior from students so that they can learn effectively.
 Good teachers are also good communicators, not just with their students but with parents and with the wider community.
 Teachers understand that ongoing professional learning is part of the job. They understand that teaching is an unending challenge. They know they must continue to stay up to date with the detail of their subjects and the best ways to teach.
 Make no mistake; good teachers make a difference to our children’s future. There’s also no denying that good teachers equip our children with many of the skills they will need in the future. It’s a huge responsibility and those who dedicate their lives to it deserve recognition.
 Great teachers have inspired us, nurtured us and broadened our horizons. Our children need our classrooms to aspire to the highest standards in the world.
 Empower students.

Successful teachers should build their self-confidence and self-esteem. Self-confidence is the belief in you. It is the belief that you were created smart, capable, and beautiful. It is the belief that you may not be perfect, but you have positive attributes that you feel good about. All this has a lot to do with self-confidence. Self-confidence defines how you feel about yourself. Self-esteem is your own satisfaction with yourself. The fact that you know you are intelligent, beautiful, or talented plays a major role in your self-esteem. The way you feel about what you are able to do is also part of your self-esteem. The better your self-esteem, the more self-confidence you will have.

A teacher is a person who organizes, operates, manages, and takes the risk in educating young people expecting to gain profit in the form of increased knowledge in his or her students. Being a successful and confident teacher involves patience, knowledge, skill, and time. Many teachers learn more about successful teaching in the classroom than from textbooks.

A good teacher not only encourages her/his students to ask questions, research, read, and learn but is not afraid to do so herself. As you access information about your business of teaching and gain more knowledge through your experience in the classroom you also build your confidence. The more confidence you have the better your classroom and your teaching experience will be. A successful teacher must have self-confidence! Your classroom and your students will be a reflection of your confidence.

There are 10 things teachers (especially young and inexperienced teachers) can do to build their own confidence and become a successful teacher:

1. Never wait on others for encouragement and inspiration, learn to inspire yourself. Be inspired by the success of your students.
2. Always keep your cool when in front of a students, parents, and co-workers.
3. Keep a positive attitude overcoming insecure, avoiding depression, and other negative behavior.
4. Strive to be a balanced overachiever; you can’t be successful if you don’t give it all you’ve got.
5. Don’t be easily irritated and unnerved when things seem to be going wrong. Remain calm even when faced with challenges.
6. Always have a friendly aura, it promotes your confidence and inspires other teachers as well, especially on those days where is seems you are not reaching your students.
7. Be a leader and major contributor in your school, volunteer to head a committee at work, church, community, and social groups.
8. Be prepared for a learning and teaching opportunity at all times.
9. Organize every work day.
10. Now this is the hard one. Never give up.