When your teaching style suits a learning style of your student, you will definitely become his best teacher ever. This is like to be on the same wave with someone. But it's obvious, that all your 30 students (or 20, or even 10, it doesn't matter actually) will never have the same opinion about your teaching methods, so, misunderstandings are impossible to avoid.
However, you always can become a better teacher for your students, the main thing is to listen to them carefully. Here we have 10 advice from students to teachers, that will help you understand their principles better. You teach them of course, but you can always let them teach you a bit as well, can't you?
So, if you want to become the best teacher for your students, you'd better not ignore what they say.
Let Your Students Help You Be a Better Teacher for Them
1. A good teacher is an assertive teacher
Your students can have problems, bad days, stress, or even depressions as well. If you see that some of your students start to study worse, have no desire to do all schoolwork you give them, and just want to give up everything, do not be in a hurry to argue and tell them about how bad or lazy they become.
You can become like a parent to them. Support your student, ask about what happens to him, push him to do better. If you see that your student is depressed, maybe it would be better to meet with him after classes and find out what exactly is going on.
2. Be their friend, but don't go too far
Students just don't like when their teacher starts behaving like a student himself. Stay professional, help students with schoolwork, listen to them, talk about their lives, but remember who you are. Even if you are a young specialist, and you are almost of the same age with your students, there is no need to use all those slang words (even if you use them in your everyday life).
Your students will find it rude and unprofessional. As far as you understand, this is not the best method to get a good reputation. Your students just will not take you seriously.
3. Make your lesson relevant to their lives
If you want your students to remember your lessons, just try to connect the information you provide with some moments of your students' life. You can use some of them as an example, describing this or that situation: it would be more interesting for them to visit such lessons, but not those boring ones where you try to explain them the importance of differential equations for our science.
Just try to come up with an example, how these differential equations can help THEM in the future.
4. Your time should be used wisely
Remember who you are and where you are. Students don't like, when their teacher begins to tell them about his life, how better it was when he was younger, how better and more patient all students were then, blah-blah-blah. Your student visits your lesson to learn something on the subject, so, don't give him a reason to miss this class next time.
Remember, that time is important for your students as well, so, they would not be happy to waste it for lessons which don't give them anything except personal stories from their teacher's life.
5. More explanations
Even if you consider yourself a cool teacher who explains everything in a way that even the stupidest person would understand you, don't be lazy to explain it to your students several times, and what is even more important – try to do that in different manners. Sometimes, they really don't get it, but it's not because they are stupid: maybe some of them just think different.
Be patient, and explain your material over and over again, making sure all students understand what you're talking about. You know, how difficult it will be for them to learn further, if they don't get the basis.
6. Teach in a variety of ways
Don't be lazy to use as many different materials for your lessons as possible. Students believe that the best teacher is able to teach in a big variety of ways: use books, videos, music, presentations, speeches, and everything that can be interesting for your students to accept (you know them better, so, you will definitely come up with good ideas).
If you show them a video, then give some papers with facts described in that video, then tell them all this info yourself, it will be much easier for your students to understand and get the material.
7. Be firm
It doesn't mean you should be a dictator. But students do not like teachers who are too soft and mild. Too nice is not always nice, especially when it comes to teaching. There are always some students in a class (we think, you remember all those movies about high schools), who will try to persuade you that they do not need the material you give. Don't make a sad face like that Okay meme on the Internet has!
Just stay consistent!
8. A good teacher always has objectives
When you start a lesson, make your students understand clearly what they will learn today. You should have clear objectives, as such a plan will help students concentrate and know what they are supposed to do during this class.
You can write something like “do nows” on the board, or just tell them your plan step by step.
9. Be a good example for your students
One student has told us a story about his teacher, who always brought tasty organic food and shared it with those students who didn't bring lunch with them. He looked younger and very energetic, and some students changed their mind about what they age, because they just wanted to look like a teacher.
This is an example of a teacher who influenced his students positively. If you follow this advice, your students will thank you.
10. Believe in them!
Don't ignore your student, if you see he is not interested in your subject, or he doesn't understand anything. Just try to believe in everyone, and don't leave any of your students behind.
Ask each of them to explain what exactly they don't like or understand, explain this once again, make sure they've got it this time. It is very important for a student to feel the support of his teacher and know, that he will always help when it is needed.
Andrei Zakhareuski
