The strict teacher

After being in and out of classrooms for a week, I am surprised at my own ease with the way teachers here interact with their students. My first impression was that these fifth graders were being controlled a bit too much by the teachers. They seemed to be what for me has so far been a complete no-no in terms of teacher qualities. They appeared strict. And I was taken aback.

Having spent a considerable amount of time within these classrooms, I have come to understand and even appreciate the teachers’ way of dealing with their students.

Fifth graders, at ten years of age, are by no means model representatives of the human civilisation. They behave more like monkeys when left to themselves. And the ten year olds at Heritage are no different. As soon as the teacher leaves the classroom, they start making noise and prance about the classroom. If the teacher is paying individual attention to one child, restlessness pours out of all the others.

So controlling the class seems essential on the part of the teacher. And sometimes it is so essential that it even feels like it is pointed out a bit too frequently. As if the entire purpose of coming to school is for children to learn how to be managed effectively.

But that is not the only characteristic that defines the quality of a teacher here. Every teacher whose class I’ve visited has a distinct quality, and her class resonates with these qualities, giving every classroom a unique culture. There is so much to say about the classroom culture in each section I will probably dedicate another post to it.

I may not have liked that the teachers appeared ‘strict’, but I was greatly comforted by how they appeared to own this strictness. It wasn’t something that seemed to be handed down to them by someone else or by authorities. The teachers seem to have figured out through their own experiences the necessity of being strict in order to maintain a learning-favourable environment in the classroom. Of course, if the class size was smaller, I am sure the teachers would have had an entirely different approach. But the large size of the class seems something both teachers and students are aware of. And the comprises that have to be made along with them are something that students also seem to understand and respect. In fact, in my observations, I got a sense that the students are self-aware--to the extent that they realise that in being their natural ten year old self, they become restless and fidgety and can cause disturbances to the rest of the class. And they even seem to implicitly understand that what the teacher is doing is not to force them into undesired circumstances but as a means to help them learn better. And the children at this school love what they learn. And it seems the discipline they ought to adhere to has obvious rewards--that come to them in the learning activities they get to participate in. So that, somewhere in all this, the students have respect for the teachers’ strictness.

In my own schooling, and then later on in my time as a teacher, I have fought with the idea of a strict teacher. It was something that did not appeal to me at all. But then I also realise that what students need unconsciously, and look for, is a teacher who is also an adult figure they can look up to. They don’t have to serve the function of a friend alone. If it is an established understanding that the teacher is wiser and more mature and capable of helping you, that serves as a solid foundation on which to build classroom dynamics.

I like that I entered the classroom with my own set of assumptions and that during the process of observation, I saw some of my most solid assumptions be put to the test. It helps to have your assumptions challenged because that always offers opportunities for learning and for self improvement. I may not be as strict a teacher--for every teacher comes with their own personal qualities. But this certainly helps me view teachers who are strict in a different and appreciative light.