Absolute Don’ts of a Teacher Job

Vinod Kakumanu
Aug. 21, 2018, 5:16 p.m.

As much as we love the thought that every teacher out there is going to be marvelous, the reality of the matter is that it would not be so. There is always going to be that one teacher we are never going to forget, and dare I say, for all the wrong reasons. Teachers are the people whom we trust fully with ourselves and our future and when those expectations are not met – well, it’s disappointing. A teacher’s job is also not a trivial engagement. Sometimes, and I think everyone would agree with that, we all have bad days - even teachers. But having a bad day as a teacher and being a bad teacher have fundamental differences. Some points to be noted as drawbacks are:

Cell Phone: Picture the teacher is always on the cell phone. For a teacher on the job, what is the most important thing? Of course, their students. Nothing other than their students must be given importance during the teaching time. If teachers are spending time on their phone rather than spending time teaching the class, it gives the impression that there is something or someone far more interesting and important outside the class than within the class for the teacher. This constitutes a completely unacceptable behavior for a teacher. Hence, the cell-phone engagement in the classroom is, according to us, the number one attribute for qualifying as a bad teacher.
Temper Problems: Students are kids and kids are, well, kids. Anything and everything leaves an impression on their mind and it is usually very quick and stays for a long time. Any action done by the teacher is an impression that lasts in the student’s mind. You as a teacher must make sure not to lose control, or in this case, your temper in front of the students. Sure, you might be having a bad day, or the kids might be exasperating but nothing excuses your behavior because you are the adult in the room, not them.
Not Paying Attention: This is related to confounding distraction with multitasking. You cannot teach a class while simultaneously checking your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other myriad social media accounts. You should be taking rounds in your class and looking after the students and helping them, teaching them instead. A teacher is the life of the classroom, her/his attention is what makes the classroom lively if you take that away, you are sucking the life out of that classroom, so do what you are there to do – teach.
One Method Policy: For some teachers, the basis of discerning a bad learner profile to good learner profile is on one criterion – worksheets. Some students get things by doing worksheets, some don’t. Some understand what the teacher is teaching and complete the worksheet, some don’t. That alone does not make them bad learners. Several teachers employ on stereotypical method of teaching and expect all the students to learn equally. And when this does not happen, the students who do not really understand the teacher’s method, they are dubbed slow learners.
Monotony in Teaching Job: Monotonous teaching is suffocating learning to be very figurative. Typically, students fall asleep after ten minutes, don’t you realize? Studies indicate that the ones who want to study very much might be awake for maximum twenty minutes then they also give up. Constantly speaking without any expression or gestures or anything interesting to look by or listen to or non-interaction kills the joy of learning. You might want to vary your voice tones, ask sudden questions, make the classroom more interactive to overcome the problem of monotone teaching.
Teaching Only The “GOOD” Learners: A good teacher can turn a good learner into a great one and a slow learner to a better learner. A good learner can learn at the faster pace but a teacher’s duty is to look after all the students, teach all the students and not only the good learners.
Teaching The Same Way Every Year: Some teachers use the same tests, worksheets for students every year, effectively they use templates. Don’t do that, bring some newness in the lessons, showcase creativity, raise or down the difficulty level to make it interesting.
Words Mean Nothing: There are teachers whose words never affect the students – the reason could be anything lack of confidence, consistency anything. A teacher must be consistent with his/her words but should not lie or be violent to make children listen or obey.
Hating The Students: Why are you even a teacher if you hate students? If that’s the case, You clearly are in the wrong profession and must go forward and look for different profession rather than wasting your and a child’s time and faith in teachers.