Whatever Happened to American Idol

Thursday, May 21, 2009

So after six months, Americans had chosen the usual “boy next door”singer who comfortably holds the guitar and sways, sway, sway.

I am not a fan of Kris Allen. Though I recognize the fact that he is “good”, I still think Adam has a wider vocal range, a better control of his voice, and a better stage presence. I mean, look at Kris when he hits the high notes. Lol.

Even Kris muttered during the final night, “Are you serious? Adam is better.”

Nonetheless, it is Kris whom the Americans want to sing for them. (Cheesy, right?) So after all these comments, congratulations Kris. *But I still hope it should have been Adam.

My Idea of a Good Teacher Part 2

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Before I made this entry, I received a notification that one friend had written a blog entry that appears to be a teacher’s point of view counterpart of “My Idea of a Good Teacher Part 1″. I read the entry and I was really amused. If you have time, please visit his blog at http://swaggerttacio.wordpress.com/

The worst simpleton will define the word “teacher” as someone who teaches. At one point, it makes sense. I had a lot of teachers who had always emphasized that “I am the teacher, you are the student; I am more important than you. You have to listen to what I say.”

Looks to me like this kind of teacher holds the remote control and the students are robots–they should obey the teachers’ “commands” or else…

Now, we know that this kind of student-teacher relationship is supposedly very obsolete (though some teachers are still practicing it). Our “modern day” teachers encourage oral participation during class discussions. This gives the students who are not performing well in written exams a chance to properly express themselves. For some people, the teacher-student interaction is very important. According to one teacher, it can also serve as a way to correct the students’ enunciation, to fight stage fright, and to maximize the use of the English language (since it is the medium of instruction in all educational levels).

Nowadays, there are many teachers who recognize the fact that they do not know everything. Sadly, there are still few who act all-knowingly and laughs hysterically when the students commit mistakes. How terrible. These all-knowing teachers (I forgot to include them in my previous list) are the exact equivalents of some know-it-all students. But what I don’t understand is that, why do they need to laugh when their students commit mistakes? I wonder if that is the proper way of correcting mistakes since it seems to be a common “solution”. There are some who do not laugh but are even worse–they throw remarks that will soon send their students scurrying to the CR and cry. The idea of maximum tolerance on the part of the student who receive such remarks may not be necessarily all-true. We all have our limits. And some teachers have not yet recognized their students’ emotional pain treshold. And I think they nevel will.

What I want to point out is that, there are other ways to correct mistakes. Humiliating a certain student, no matter how stupid she may be, in front of her classmates is not at all a good way of disciplining her. Let her discover that she made a mistake without hurting her feelings and, at the same time, motivating her to read more. 

Whenever I witness such dreadful teacher-student encounters, I always imagine the teacher as a pitiful student in front of his college/university professor. Perhaps, I always think, he could have been notoriously humiliated or was not able (and is still unfortunately unable) to answer his professor’s question. Whatever the reason is, I could not stand the scene and start to curse and curse and curse while I am clenching my hand as I could not just speak out for the fear that I might end up in detention or be reported for “uncourteous behavior” at the Guidance Office.

If only there is a clear-cut policy in the Student Handbook or any law that humiliation inside the classroom is a dreadful and punishable act, I could have sued a lot of teachers.

Many teachers demand “respect” from their students–to think that what they do does not seem to be “respectable” (this is not a standard term, I just coined it) at all,…sigh. I know that morally speaking, we should respect everyone–no matter how severely rash and impolite they may be. But you cannot just blame other people who think [the same way as I am] that respect begets respect. Why would you ask for respect if you cannot even respect yourself?

To appear honorable  does not require someone to wear a tuxedo or a neck tie. But on the contrary, wearing inappropriate clothes, including over-sized eyewear while you are wearing your white uniform, will never attract respect.

Allow me to share my own criteria for a teacher to be, uhm, GOOD.

1. A teacher should be conscious to what he says, and not how he looks. Although good looks make good impressios, I still prefer brain cells over appearance or fashion.

2. A teacher does not need to compare himself with other teachers. What should matter to him is what makes him unique. He does not need to emphasize that they are at the “same level”.

3. A teacher must know his students’ capacities and limits. He should not equal his own thinking to them. He should not make them appear very inferior to him. They should just meet half-way.

4. A teacher must know how much his students needs to learn. Although it is good to teach the students a lot of things, a teacher should remember that the brain has its limits. Information overload can lead them to  basically…nothing.

5. A good teacher recognizes the importance of interaction. Honestly, I don’t like teachers who monopolize the discussion. I think of myself as a mere decoration (a useless decoration, if I might add).

6. A teacher should remind his students of the importance of the subject he is teaching. Sadly, only few are able to do this. Some teachers cannot convince their students to fully appreciate the subject they are teaching. I think this is important for the learning continuity.

7.  A teacher should administer tests to measure his own self. Quiz and exam results normally reflect the effectiveness of the teacher’s strategy and measure how thorough is the understanding of the students. It rarely serves as a punishment.

8. A teacher should not over-praise and over-embarass his students. Too much praise and the student will act abnormally proud. Too much embarassment and the student will hate you.

9. A teacher should be on time. This is one technical rule that many teachers cannot follow. I had one teacher before that comes to class thirty minutes before time, to think that the class is only for an hour. There is one, on the other hand, who already starts the lesson fifteen minutes before time. Both extremes are just not fair. For the latter (you know who you are), your subject is not the same with our clinical duty so please do not insist.

And lastly, and I believe to be the most important is that:

10. A good teacher inspires and motivates his students. No matter how intelligent a teacher is if he cannot even make his students smile (not because of green jokes), then he is still no good. Proper motivation to read and study more is much better than making their noses bleed then later on feast on their low scores.

Patience is everything. As one author said, “You don’t get the chick by smashing the egg.” Teachers should be patient and should  learn how to control their temper no matter how stubborn their students are. And this is  just what makes their profession even more difficult.

To our teachers, don’t make us think you are our enemies. Because we know you aren’t.