Growing up, I’ve always found myself struggling in multiple subjects/topics in school. Even so, no matter the subject, it was whenever I had a teacher who went that extra mile to help me understand a topic that truly made it feel as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I was able to function again.
Being a junior in high school, I’ve had my fair share of not-so-great teachers. At first I thought maybe I just didn’t like my math teacher because I thought geometry – and math itself – was hard, or I didn’t like chemistry because I wasn’t studying hard enough (even though I knew I was putting my all into the class). It wasn’t until this past year when I realized the reasons why I dreaded going to certain classes and did so poorly in them was because the teacher teaching me the subject did not engage with their student(s), or did not actively try to understand the reasons their students find the class so complicated.
Instead, they just treat students as just another teenager who needs to pass an exam, rather than a teenager who wants to actually learn the topic (but just doesn’t know where to begin).
I found that whenever I raised my hand in a previous science class, instead of having a teacher who would take the question without judgement, I had a teacher who got annoyed that I didn’t understand the explanation she just gave. It got to a point where I just stopped asking questions altogether, resulting in my low-scores in the class, because the amount of embarrassment I felt asking my own teacher a question wasn’t worth feeling bad about anymore. Similarly, in a previous math class, I had a teacher who would not speak to his students like human beings, but rather as a body sitting at a desk for 40 minutes; never engaging in conversations and just trying to get through the lesson to finish it and move on to the next task.
It is this barrier between the teacher and the student that makes it difficult to learn in a classroom setting.
Teachers should stop making students feel inferior to them, and start showing their students who they are as people. Teachers should start teaching past what’s in the course syllabus and prove to their students that they truly believe in their capabilities in doing well in the class.
Personally, I’m constantly in an internal battle with myself as I never quite believe in the skills I have and the fact I can do well in a class. I currently have a teacher in a class that I struggle with who is the first teacher to show me they are a person with emotions, and not just another adult who’s trying to spew information at me. They write notes on my tests, saying things like “I know you can do better!” and “You’ve improved so much, I’m proud of you Ashley!” Although these notes may seem to go unnoticed, I can say that even though the class makes me want to scream constantly, these little notes motivate me to want to do better.
When a student feels as though their teachers – who they spend more time with than their actual parents – don’t care about them, often treating them at a lower level than themselves, they tend to do a lot worse in a class than they would if they had a teacher who has actual conversations with them, connecting with them on a much more personal level. Having a teacher who shows that they care about their students can not only improve how they do in a class, but how they feel during the class as well.
It’s an amazing feeling being able to walk into a class in which I am comfortable having a conversation with my teacher, and at the same time being eager to learn whatever topic they throw my way, no matter how difficult or confusing, because I know I will not be critizied for not understanding something.
