Almost everyone of us have had a teacher in our life who has entirely changed or made significant impact on our lives; helping us to perceive the world into completely different way, making us feel proud on our achievements, motivated us to the extent that we have achieved something impossible.
No doubt, teachers are the great source of inspiration for students. But as a student has you ever thought who/what inspires your teachers most for best and effective teaching.
We interacted with a lot of teachers on various social media platforms and asked them what inspires them the most towards effective teaching and their replies were mesmerizing.
Someone has truly said that best teacher teaches from heart and they consider their teaching as pious profession. In the reply of the above question, one of the educators said, “It’s the kids. The fact that they might be able to experience the satisfaction of learning if I do a good job is what keeps me going.”
Definitely, this is not the only thing that inspires the teachers most; sometimes other successful teachers do become source of inspiration for educators.
Kimberly Smith- an elementary school teacher says, “I definitely find inspiration in other teachers. I also find that I have to continually change and modify my teaching/lessons. If I don't, I fall into a rut and lose the excitement that comes with trying something new”.
Positive feedback from their students also encourage teachers a lot, although, generally, students do not give any feedback to their teachers that help them to improve their practices. In this discussion, one of the educators stated, “The satisfaction and pleasure I get when I see my students are doing good in my subject and they praise for that.”
Feedback is important for every teacher not just for getting inspiration but also to understand which way of teaching is helping students to learn better.
Many of the educators believe that there is nothing more satisfying than inspiring a person to open their mind. They wish to make learning easy and full of fun because only with flexible learning methods students can able to open their mind and do creative.
“When students thoroughly enjoy learning and you can tell that you are making a difference in their education.” says a first grade teacher, Elizabeth Hesselink when asked what inspires you the most for teaching.
And to make learning and flexible, gamification has been introduced in the education. Over the Internet, there are various resources available that assist teachers to adopt gamification in the learning process.
Well! Teacher’s motivation towards effective teaching is indeed necessary for quality education; and do you know what is the best part? The best part is teachers themselves find ways for motivating themselves towards teaching. Here I am leaving you with one of the perfect answers I received in the discussion.
There are two situations each from my perspective and from the students’ perspective and they are:
1. Being in the interested mode (I’m interested means I’m charged to deliver and the student too to listen and work)
2. Being in the lethargic mode (I don’t feel like going to the class but I have to)
Though both ME (m) and my STUDENTS (s) may be in any of these modes any time any day, but usually the combination (m, s) is (1,2) in the beginning and I try to keep myself in 1 while I try bringing them (ASAP) to 1. In the middle of the semester its 1 for both and gradually the combination drops to (2, 1) in the fourth quarter.
In any case, I require motivation.
In case 1: The standard books; the author; the topic’s interesting flow and/or the analogies from our day to day life; are the essential things that motivate me make my deliverable interesting and effective.
In case 2: Students’ innocence/vulnerability (that (s)he does not know); A particular student’s situation (maybe he might be coming for the first time or maybe a regular to my class); my concern for the society would drive me; my creativity (like telling a story which would lead to the topic) would push me; colored chalks and the duster; my scientific attitude; are the factors that motivates me being in the “uninterested” mode.
In the worst case, the urge to “interact with the young minds and explore them to fill colors” is always there. And that is the most important inspiration for me to do my best.
What inspires you?