Day 31: The importance of teachers

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 31: The importance of teachers

More and more families decide to homeschool their children. The majority justifies their action by voicing a concern of the school environment, while others chose to homeschool because of religious reasons or because the child has special needs.  While the motivation might be well intended, parents often forget the importance of teachers.

Why are teachers important?

The Board of Education claims that a primary school teacher holds the most important job in the world.  A teacher is a trained professional, able to deal with all kinds of children and situations. A teacher passes on knowledge and values to her class of young students and prepares them for higher education and life in the workplace. 

The role of the teacher

Teaching gifted students is easy, stimulating ordinary students and leading them to excellence is quite another.  A good teacher sparks the interest of her students, tickles their curiosity and motivates them to work.

The role of the teacher in class

Teachers, whether in elementary or high school, do more than stand in front of a class and deliver a lecture.  Many will claim that teaching isn’t so much a profession as it is a calling.

They influence their students with their commitment, competence, and character. 

They transfer their morals and ethics to their students and stimulate them to learn. 

Good teachers encourage students to participate in lessons, seeks their opinion and use student’s feedback to make the lessons more effective and fun. 

The role of the teacher in school

While teachers are first and foremost facilitators who transfer their knowledge in a particular subject to their students, they take on other roles too.

They are role models who show kindness and good manners to those around them.

They instill the right attitude in students to learn.

They provide guidance to students who need help and support them along the way.

They are confidants to students with problems.  While schools generally have a guidance teacher, many students prefer to entrust a teacher they know with their problems.

Teachers are often instrumental in a student’s career choice.

A good teacher has a way of communicating with parents and encourages them to be involved in their child’s education.

A teacher’s role in society

Being a role model, a teacher should behave impeccably in everyday life.  While everybody deserves to relax and let their hair down, swearing in public, or rude or drunken behavior can ruin a teacher’s reputation. The teacher never knows who is watching. A single misstep can ruin a carefully build up career.

Unless a child is homeschooled by a teacher or professor, it misses out on all these advantages. Not only that, a homeschooled child doesn’t learn any social skills in dealing with other children. In many ways, going to school prepares a child for a working environment in adult life.

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Day 17: Pick a word from a dictionary and write about it - trainer

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 17: Pick a word from a dictionary and write about it - trainer

Okay, I encountered a bit of a snag here ... I don’t own a dictionary. So I turned to Google and asked to present me with a random dictionary word. Google came up with ‘Trainer’. This word suited me just fine as it gives me the opportunity to tell you about the time I took my dog to obedience school.

My dog was called Laura, a Belgian Shephard and while a beautiful animal, she was not very obedient. Taking her for a walk was nothing to look forward to. She would strain on her leach, the leather cutting into my hand, and I would hardly be able to keep up with her. And heaven forbid when she saw a cat or a bird. She would take off like an arrow from a bow, dragging me behind her.

When a neighbor suggested obedience school I made inquiries and Laura was accepted for the September/October class.

The first Saturday afternoon we showed up at the school, which was a large grassy field with a pavilion, I was surprised at the attendance. There must have been 60 men and women there, accompanied by German Shepherds, Labradors, Border Collies, Golden Retrievers, French Poodles, Dobermans, and an assortment of mixed breeds.

While the owners made conversation, the dogs sat next to them, lay down on the grass, or tried to get acquainted with each other.

At precisely 3:00 p.m. one of the trainers called the gathering to order and requested them to go their allocated spot: beginners, intermediates and advanced. It was obvious who the intermediates and advanced men and women and their dogs were, as they knew where to go. Only the beginners class stayed behind.

Laura and I, along with 10 other dogs and their owners were directed to the left-hand side of the field. The class started by commanding our dog to sit.

“Sit” I commended Laura, but she looked up at me with an expression that said she was perfectly fine standing. “Sit,” I said again and again and eventually she must have thought ... okay, if you insist. So, she sat.

Next came the command to lay down. When I commended Laura to lay down, she had no problem with that. She lay down, front paws elegantly stretched out in front of her. Good dog. 

Getting her to get up again proved to be difficult and I could see her point ... first you want me to lay down, now you want me to get up ... make up your mind.

We practiced and practiced and eventually Laura had it down, she sat and lay down on command. Now came the part where our dogs had to sit and had to remain in place while their owners walked away (a short distance). Laura was having none of that. I had barely taken three steps or she came after me. Walking away while Laura lay down proved to be just as impossible.

Week after week Laura and I joined the other men and women and their dogs, most of them well behaved if not super obedient (the dogs I mean).

Toward the end of October, obedience classes came to an end and the training season would be rounded off with a party. One of the staff members handed me an invitation and Laura promptly bit her arm. Not bad, but enough to warn her.

“Never extend your arm to an owner while the dog is present,” one of the trainers said. “The dog might think that you’re going to attack the owner. Do it slowly and let the owner extend his or her arm first.”

So, while technically Laura had done nothing wrong, we were banned from any future lessons. Biting a staff member, even with the intention of protecting an owner, was not acceptable.

“Don’t feel bad,” the instructor who had been working with Laura said to me. “Laura might not be the most obedient dog, but where it comes to protecting, she doesn’t need any lessons.”

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