If you could give a teacher one piece of advice to help you learn, what would it be? by Joanne

If you could give a teacher one piece of advice to help you learn, what would it be? by Joanne - January 2015 Scholarship Essay

This is a tough question to answer. Students can offer advice on different learning resources, teaching methods, and tutoring sessions just to name a few. However, after giving it some thought, I finally came up with one simple yet effective piece of advice. My advice is to make the student feel comfortable. When a student is comfortable with their teacher, they will reach out to them for questions. If a teacher is intimidating, the student will shy away or rebel in one way or another. Everyone will run across an intimidating teacher at one point in their life, and that does not help the student academically. On the contrary, that only makes students turn away from their teacher and not ask for help because they are afraid of what the teacher might say to them.

A teacher should make students laugh and feel comfortable enough to be themselves. This not only allows the student to gain more confidence and self-esteem, but it also allows the student to have more courage to speak up if they really do not understand the concepts they are learning. A teacher helps students feel comfortable by allowing students to speak up and give their opinions in the classroom. Teachers should acknowledge the students work, and provide constructive feedback. Yes teachers should have authority at all times in the classroom, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the student should not have a voice in the classroom.

When a teacher has an open door policy, this allows students to know that it is okay to ask questions and seek help when they are having trouble learning. A positive class room setting results in a comfortable feeling of being at ease and student's minds will grasp information more effectively.