Try to Believe

Yes, that is what I’d like to share with you in this column. “Try to believe” is sometimes easy to talk but hard to do. So many considerations that the feeling of anxiety or maybe overreacted worries to our children make us so feel stressed, at least, that what I know. It can be referred to any kind we consider it as teacher; try to believe yourself, your skills, your experience, your method, your confidence, and your students. The last mentioned is what I want to share with you.

When you have been teaching for at least one year, you can measure your teaching method and style so far for the best or the worst ones, for your students especially. That if you can measure yourself. But sometimes it is not enough. A new improvised method of teaching is hardly assured to be applied for them coz we are worried that our students can’t follow what we have patterned in teaching points design. Is it too high or too low? I can guarantee that every teacher has “grey zone” students. It doesn’t mean negative, but he just tries to help in a given particular ability, while the objectives that he has to reach is beyond that capacity. What should he do? Yes, it is rather complicated.

The solution is maybe back to us. Some of us maybe will not fasten the progress indicators, of course not in the same way for every teacher. But why don’t we believe them? Believe that they can, or even they can be more knowledgeable than us? They have trusted you to be their teacher and now the time for you to do in return.

I have experienced it that I try to give some materials in high progress and the students should make a research for it then present it. Truly I have so quite few information about the material that I have to be the first exemplary before them. My only capital is just my trust in them that they can and they will master it. Alhamdullillah, it worked. They are so enthusiastic in presenting the material. In fact, they give me new information that I don’t know before. It’s so grateful. Moreover, I feel more confident that my students are more well-informed than me. Remember, a success teacher is a person who can make his student better than him (remember Tai Long story in Kungfu Panda?). So, it is just between you and me, whether you agree or not, if you try to believe them, they will believe you too, and it definitely happens. (Arafah)