By Aaron Rao
For those who wish to be lecturers in the future and those who are new in tutoring, especially in tutoring, take this article as a preparatory step to become a better teacher.
There are few things newbies should learn when 1st entering into teaching, especially in universities and higher learning institutions.
1. Do not expect to gain respect from students by talking loud and being over assertive. Why? Because us students don’t give a shit when tutors shout. In fact, it makes us hate them more .a good way to request an audience from students is ask politely and talk gently even if you are going to burst out inside, keep it inside.
2. Should u feel the need to express anger, do it with grace. Why? Let me give u an example. When students hand phone rings, just ask who and why before suddenly asking them to leave the class. Sometimes students just forget to turn silent mode. Just like how lecturers NEVER REMEMBER to turn phone to silent while teaching.
3. Do not force a student to tell personal reason of being absent in public. They must have their reason. Don’t go forcing them to tell it out loud like “masalah wanita!!” in front of the whole class. Not only that it would be embarrassing for the poor girl, it would also lower your fan base.
4. Do not take strict attendance. Be lenient. Lecturers that often go by the book to much usually have very low fan base. Do not worry about students not coming to tutorials. After all, whether they fail or pass it’s in their own hands. There’s no need to bar a student right after the 3rd strike. Students wont simply be absent for the 3rd time unless they have a solid reason. Clarify the situation with the student before handing out any damn letters.
5. KNOW YOUR RANK. Bear in mind that students do not like tutors that act like they’re already on par with already established lecturers. Know your standard and behave like it. That way, students will know that u are humble and trust me, humility is the key to gaining mutual respect. Nobody likes a smart ass.
Please remember that students want to like their teachers. And it is easier to learn if harmony can be achieved.
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Kasikampus in support of healthy learning
heheee
nobody likes a smart ass huh? this is the “angriest” tone i’ve heard from you so far lah bro. muahahahaha!!!
smart ass is a jerk..
dem it..
hOhOhO…
i think they just want tO shOw their “style”…hahahaha….
new tutOr at cOmmunicatiOn skOl…plz stOp telling yOur student bOut yOurself tOO Often..it really bOred n stOp dO cOmparisOn bOut USM cOMMunicatiOn with ur ex Uni…
and just want tO asking, why we(cOMM STUDENT espclly 2nd year)..shOuld be VICTIM Of them…
their level is nOT gOOd enOugh tO guide…( what ur expect frOm DEGREE hOlder lect Or tutOrs with “pengalaman yg ntah apa2″….
lalalalaallala….
erk… could it be … ….??? hehehehe
who is the person ha? emmmm….hey bukan kita sepatutnya bagitau ke kalau ade prob…sometimes malas jugak kalau kalau ’smart ass’ tu smart sangat until we cant say anythg…so rojak
Talking from the point of an educator myself, when referring to strict attendance, well for me it is very simple, if you are a student and you are absent for a 3rd time and receive a letter.Well, you deserve it! I see no reason for the lecturer/tutor to clarify with you before sending the letter as by right you should have the responsibility to clarify for your absence and not the other way around.My point=take responsibility!
In terms of not worrying about students coming to tutorials/classes well, I hardly think lecturers are worried about being the most popular of favorite, and educator job is to educate- which remains hard to do should students be “missing in action” on a regular basis without a solid reason. If educators don’t worry or bother that doesn’t make them a very good lecturer or tutor does it? It boils down to the quality of students the lecturer/tutor seeks.
As for hand phones in classes.Agreed that sometimes either party can forget but repeated offenders? That’s a whole different story altogether. Again it is about responsibility~
Know you rank?Well I guess this exist because of bureaucracy in a lot of government institutions. I would say that a lot of tutors are at par with lecturers, at times better. Some of course are way below par and behave like a “smart ass”. I think it doesn’t matter what rank you might be at as long as your lecturer/tutor can perform at his or her job.
And to end my very long comment…lolz…its not as simple as it seems.It takes far more considerations to become an educator..
I’d generally concur with cherwith.
Yet a lot boils down to individual style. I was terribly afraid of being incompetent when I was once in the position of tutoring a group of students not much younger than I am. The fear of not having authority over people who’d probably not respect you because of your age and experience can be quite overwhelming. Having said that, I think teaching is a process of self-discovery, and you learn from your students’ incompetencies as much as you’d teach them yours. No one likes ego-centric characters whose goals and ideals at the end of the day only do their petty feelings, well, petty justice. I think that, overall, explains Aaron’s outburst. And I’ll have to concur with him, too.
ek, you were not “a**ing” around when you taught me. honestly, you were one of the coolest tutor/teacher ever. (this is honest cause i’m not gonna get extra marks for any paper for having said this. hahaha)
well, i know it must be stressing to teach, when you yourself are trying hard to make a good impression. for J students,or some who had the same tutor, i think i we have a mutual feeling over someone here.
i’m not being ungrateful or what, but this sem, for those who doesnt know, J students have to take introduction to DTP (desktop publishing). here, we were supposed to learn to use adobe photoshop and adobe indesign. tutorials (or labs) should take place 2 hours per week, and you might think that we J student are experts in Photoshop-ping by now. WRONG.
the expectation was high for me, cause i am a computer junkie. and for the first few weeks in lab, i had learned the essentials of indesign and photoshop. then the excitement stopped. for only 4 weeks we had the opportunity to get a hand on the computers. for the rest, we only sat in the lab, turned the computer on, did nothing but listened to some tall stories of an “experienced” person. not that im not learning from his 1st hand experience,him being a journalist before, but how was i supposed to feel when i had listened to the same stories over and over, week after week?
i was frustrated, cause i had a false impression of the class. then i found a solution. i went to BJ, bought some pirated installers of photoshop and indesign, added with a cd e-book of photoshop for dummies and a photoshop tutorial DVD. i went to the library and borrowed some relevant books and in a few weeks i was already sick of somebody asking during class about how to put a circle/box in the page or how to bend/distort/putanyspecialefects to their texts.
now you might think im bragging, and i am, because for heaven’s sake, i can only thank that tutor for telling me the name of the two softwares.
for tutors, we know you are experienced in your previous field, and we respect you for that. im not such a hypocrite who scratch some tutor’s back, because teachers with charisma are the teachers worth respecting for. you might be in the journey of self discovery, but while you’re doing that, please remember that some souls are suffering.