Towards the demeanor of a good teacher

Can i be a Successful teacher?
Perhaps this is the weariest thought that leaves most of the young teachers helpless. It is a well known fact that most of the students enter into the field of teaching, not because of their aptitude or attitude, but because of some external influence as it is one of the shortest ways to become a professional. But even then, an effective training and some teaching tips may help them to become an average teacher. Now, if one wants to become a successful teacher, what he wants firstly, is a positive attitude towards this profession. It is due to the lack of this attitude that most of the young teachers are less confident about their potentials. If one thinks himself weak, he will surely be weak and if he thinks himself strong, he will be strong. All of us know that education is the drawing out of the best in the individuals. But even after understanding this, we are unable to draw out our immense capacities that may help us to become successful teachers. We frequently forget that education is the manifestation of perfection already in men and thus becomes “educated ignorant!”
Success is not an accident. It is the result of one’s attitude and his attitude is a choice. Now all of you have made a choice- teaching. So next step is to build a positive attitude towards it.(now, if you have one, you can build up more!). The foundation of your success, regardless of your chosen field is attitude.
Now, how can you develop a positive attitude? For the development of that quality one should be disciplined and committed. One can be disciplined and committed by conditioning. It is our responsibility to condition ourselves to become a better teacher. Always do sufficient homework before going to class. Make it habit to provide something new and afresh to the students, other than the teaching content. For this one should have a good reading habit. In this way one can take out all his excellence in all the teaching situations. Remember, good habits are difficult to come by, but easy to live with and bad habits come easy but hard to live with. Good habits, when repeated will result in consistency and consistency takes discipline. Discipline takes self-control and avoids distractions. Thus one remains a focused person so that he will be highly conscious of his professional growth and expansion of his career features. And yes, any expansion is life and contraction is death. Remember, no one has ever achieved anything without discipline.
Commitment and confidence always go hand in hand. The moment we forget our commitment to a particular cause, we lose faith in ourselves and try to justify our weakness. The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.
Another element one need is motivation. It is a drive that encourages action or feeling. If a person is enough motivated for his profession he will be ready to take up any hardship for the success his teaching. Without success there is little pride in our life, no enjoyment or excitement at work or at home. Then how can one stay motivated? One important tool that can be suggested is auto suggestion. Auto suggestions are positive statements made in our mind repeatedly before a particular task. For example before starting your class just say “I feel more confident today and can make this class a great success”. You repeat this at least 10 times before going to the class and feel the difference.
Motivation is like fire- it dies if you don’t add fuel to it. One’s fuel is his thoughts and belief. More than external motivation it is internal motivation that keeps one moving. External motivation is caused by external factors such as fear, incentives etc. This motivation vanishes, when these things go absent. On the other hand, internal motivation such as pride, sense of achievement, responsibility and belief, comes from within. It is one’s responsibility as a teacher to mould the character of his or her student and to support them on their weak points and of course, it shall be one of your internal motivations.
Apart from these things, there are some key points to bear in mind if one has to sparkle in his career as a teacher.
• Being a successful teacher means, practicing mutual respect, with your colleagues and also with students.
• Each soul is potentially divine. Really listen to them and answer to their questions clearly and respectfully. Realize that they are the dreams and expectations of their families.
• Expect to get the best from one’s students. Their minds are like bank. One can draw what they are fed with. So, in order to draw the best from them one has to give the best.
• A good teacher’s behaviors should not contradict their words. If there is no relationship between what one preach and practice, the students will feel sorry for their teacher.
• Have a sense of humor. Researches have consistently shown that good teachers have a sense of humor and they are able to use humor as part of their teaching methods to live up the class room.
• Have common sense. Good teachers are practical. They can size up a situation quickly and make an appropriate decision.
• Keep cool. There will be situations where you are tempted to yell or scream. But good teachers are able to resist this urge.
• Be an ordered person. If one is a disordered person in his private life, teaching will be probably uncomfortable for him.
• Have a command of the content. Teachers should have an in-depth command over the content they teach. They should be able to convey it to the students in a meaningful manner.
• Be a good manager of time. Time is the most precious resource a teacher has. Good teachers have learned to use this resource wisely. Life is short and we make it shorter by careless wastage of time.
• Good teachers can lead or follow as the situation demands. Good teachers are comfortable in being leader or follower.


Teaching is considered as the noblest profession. Why? All of us know that service to humanity is the noblest thing in this world. There is no other profession than teaching that help one to do this worship. Swami Vivekanada has once said, “Only those really lives who live for others. Others are more dead than alive”. So it is better to wear-out than to rust-out. So be proud of your profession and get ready to make your children lions with muscles of iron and nerves of steel. Purity, perseverance and patience sandwiched with love are the key to success. As Rabindranath Tagore quoted “Out of love this world is born, by love it is sustained, towards love it moves and into love it enter”. Thus purity in the thoughts, perseverance in the efforts and patience in the actions with a loving, caring heart will lead a teacher to successful professional life.

Do we really care our children?

It is highly disturbing to see the social menace posed by T.V.s in our society.I talking from kerala, a small state in India. It is a grave disappointment for a state boasting 100% literacy, that all families are swarming around T.V. sets by twilight to immerse in soap operas and so called reality shows. The result is the poor communication between the members of the family and sharing of their day to day affairs. Thus physically they are too close to each other, but in distant worlds, mentally and emotionally!!
When we think about its impacts on children, we can see that they are emotionally growing into a new world, where the space for their parents and other family members is very thin. Thy find new faces to share their feelings and emotions or atleast they are in search of someone with whom they can share everything. Later they will try to balance this emotional detachment by open hugging, kissing or patting.
The root-cause of the new age adoloscent problems can be traced to the carelessness of parents or their unusual restlessness for entertainment programmes. Most of the parents think that providing physical facilities for their wards is their prime duty and the healthy use of these is the responsibility of their children. Parents fail to realise the emotional unbalance of teenage and are blindly over confident about their children.The result is, in closed rooms, the children are sharing their affairs and venting out emotions to persons over mobile phone or internet.
If we want our children to keep away from these troubles,find some time to listen to them and be a part of their emotions. Also don't blindly believe them as they are prone to fall into such fantacies in this changed world.So keep watching them, to protect them.

MARK

Today i will tell you a story.This is a story of a 10 year old boy, MARK. Unlike his classmates, he was a very active and a bit naughty in the class. His class teacher, Gloria used to scold him for not being quiet in the class. He became calm for a while after every ‘course’ of scolding. Eventually it became a regular scene in the class.
One fine day Gloria was too embarrassed by MARK and she put a surgical plaster across his mouth to keep him quiet. MARK was moved by this act and he turned to be very calm on that particular day. But you know it is MARK, who can’t hide his inner instincts for long and he was on full swing the very next day itself!
It was towards the end of their academic year the students got an assignment from Gloria. The task was simple; they had to write the most respectable qualities of their best friend. After collecting those assignments Gloria listed out the qualities of each student from the viewpoint of their peers. She distributed those to each student on the last day of their class.
Years passed. Gloria was working in a different school at a different place. One day she got a call. It was the father of her old disciple MARK at the other end. He requested her to come over to their home at the earliest. Sensing the emergency, she set off at once.
When she reached his home, she saw the swarming people from different walks of life, who were all sad and bleak. One of them told her the sudden sad demise of MARK who is an air force pilot now. MARK’s father came forward and handed over a piece of paper which was almost degraded after years of handling. He was keeping this paper with him ever since he passed out from your class, father told. Gloria unfolded the paper with due care and respect. Immediately she realized her hand writing and it was the list of his qualities as envisaged by his classmates, that she wrote twenty years ago.

Now tell me, WHO IS THE REAL HERO OF THIS STORY?

Adaptation

Adaptation is a basic quality that one must have for a healthy living in this fast changing world. It is something that you can nurture and master yourself for a better living. Every time a child struggles with his new circumstances means he is lacking this quality.
Life is a one time movie with no rewinding option.No one knows its screen play as well. One has to jump from one frame to next regularly and continuously. In this process one may face problems, just because of the lack of proper adaptation to new circumstances or he failed to envisage his new roles in the new circumstances.

What can be done?
The foremost thing that you have to employ is studying your surroundings.Just look around to know that how things are going on and how you are expected to act in this new circumstances. Try to understand the do's and dont's and act accordingly. Strictly follow the rules and regulations of the new set up and support it both in your words and deeds. Try to harness these skills to perpetuate yourself to success. As all of know, He who adjust best lives the longest.

Quotes

I have been collecting interesting quotes for over 2 years.I have listed al those below for you to read and contemplate.Some are really funny and some great, though all are leaving a trail of deep thought.Some are really charging statements and highly motivating.I always try to use these in my classes.

A fool always find a greater fool to admire him.
A good traveler does not know where he goes but a perfect traveler know where he comes from.
A grumbler does not work and a worker does not grumble.
A learned fool is more foolish than an ignorant fool.
A little knowledge is a serious thing indeed.
A long dispute means both parties are wrong.
A man can succeed in almost all things for which he has an unlimited enthusiasm.
A man may fail many times, but he isn’t a failure until he begins to to blame somebody else.
A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience.
A small leak can sink a ship.
A smile costs nothing but it creates much.
A student acquires a quarter of his knowledge from his teacher, another quarter from his own intelligence, a third quarter from co-students and the last quarter from his own experience.
A teacher who is attempting to reach without inspiring the pupil is hammering on cold iron.
A true teacher is one who can immediately come to the level of students, transfer his soul to the students’ and understand through his mind.
Ability is of little account without opportunity.
Ability without dependability, responsibility and flexibility is a liability.
Abuse is not argument.
Actions are nothing but the actor’s thoughts projected and expressed in and through him.
All love is sweet, Given or returned.
All progress is change, but all change is not a progress.
Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. – Helen Keller
Although the world is full of suffering,it is also full of the overcoming of it.
An army of stags lead by a lion is better than an army of lions lead by a stag.
An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity and a pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity.
An ounce of action worth a ton of theory.
Argue for your limitations and sure enough they are yours
As we advance in life, we learn the limits of our abilities.
Attachment is death; non-attachment is eternal life.
Be anvil or the hammer.
Be like a flower- give happiness and fragrance to all.
Be openly happy in the joy of others and be sincerely sympathetic in others sorrows.
Be roman while you are at Rome.
Better to ask twice than to lose your way once.
Birth is an accident, but death is a certainty.
Blessings never comes in pairs, misfortunes never come alone.
Brain power without willpower is no power.
Chance makes our parents, choice makes our friends.
Character is what you are, and reputation is what people think you are. But if your reputation is bad, you might as well have a bad character.
Comfort comes as guest, lingers to become host and stays to enslave us.
Courage is the first human qualities because it is this quality that guaranties all the others.
Cowards die a thousand deaths, brave men only once.
Culture expresses itself in thoughts, words and deeds.
Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.
Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.
Disappointment can come only to those who make appointment with future.
Discipline of the mind leads to self-realization.
Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man.
Do not put your trust on money, but put your money on trust.
Do the best and leave the rest.
Doing good in return to evil is the correct morality.
Don’t carve your name upon marble, carve it on heart.
Education is the progressive discovery of one’s own ignorance.
Effectiveness is doing the right thing right.
Efficiency is the capacity to bring proficiency into expression.
Either do not attempt at all or go through with it.
Enjoy your life without comparing it with that of others.
Every great achievement is done slowly.
Every man is the architect of his own future.
Everyone has a will to win, but only a few have the will to prepare to win.
Failure is another opportunity to begin again more intelligently.
Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.
Fall is antecedent to rise.
Familiarity breeds contempt while vanity wins admiration.
Fault becomes thicker when love s thin.
Fear not the future, weep not for the past.
First rate people hire first rate people; second rate people hire third rate people.
For a jaundice patient everything looks yellow.
For a woman marriage is a problem and not get married is a greater problem.
Genius is admired, wealth is envied, power is feared; character is trusted.
Good humor is goodness and wisdom combined.
Good things come to those who wait, but only those things left by those who hustle.
Great joys, like great grieves, are silent.
Great minds have purposes, others have wishes.
Great things are not done by impulse but by a series of small things brought together.
Hate not the sinner, but the sin.
Have more than you show, speak less than you know.
He who adjusts himself best lives the longest.
He who hides himself best accomplishes the best.
Heard melodies are sweet, those unheard sweeter.
His heart cannot be pure whose tongue is not pure.
Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.
I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
I attribute my success to this; I never gave or took excuse.
I can not do everything, but I can do something. I must not fail to do the something that I can do.
I like the dreams of future than the history of past.
If the dog barks, the mountain is not injured
If you are not big enough to lose, you are not big enough to win.
If you are willing to be in charge, someone will put you there.
If you lead through fear, you will have little to respect; but if you lead through respect you will have little to fear.
If you really want to succeed start to do the things that failures don’t like to do.
If you rest, you rust.
If you want a thing to be done well, do it yourself.
I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.
Impertinence is not courage.
In science you should read the newest works, but in literature you should read the old classics.
It is a sense of possession that gives sorrow.
It is better to be approximately right than to be precisely wrong.
It is better to have a hen tomorrow than an egg today.
It is better to risk than to delay very much.
It is easier to be critical than to be correct.
It is easy to develop intellect but it is very difficult to develop heart.
It is not how ling you live, but how you live.
It is not what we eat, but what we digest that makes up fat; it is not what ae hear, but we understand makes us wise; it is not what we earn, but what we saves makes us rich.
It is very easy to misunderstand a person, but very difficult to understand him.
Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.
Knowledge is power, power is action and action is life.
Liberty means responsibility.
Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.
Life is a tragedy for those who feel and comedy for those who think.
Life is Adventure; Dare it, Life is Beauty; Admire it, Life is Challenge; Face it, Life is Duty; Perform it, Life is Journey; Complete it, Life is Game; Play it, Life is Opportunity; Avail it, Life is Promised; Fulfill it, Life is struggle; Fight it, Life is Sorrow; Overcome it; Life is Love; Love it.
Life is an exciting business, and most exciting when it is lived for others.
Life is death long discipline.
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.
Life is like a book. Each day is a new page. May your book be a best seller with adventures to tell, lessons to learn and tales of good deeds to remember.
Life is mathematics. Add good friends, deduct enemies, subtract your sorrows and multiplies your joys.
Life is short and we make it shorter by careless use of time.
Literacy is not education.
Long before you marry a girl, your soul should embrace her in shadow of true love.
Love is the fairest flower that blooms in God's Garden
Make stepping-stones out of stumbling blocks.
Man is never punished for his sins, but by his sins.
Man is the bad child of universe.
Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true.
Man suffers infinitely in the pursuit of gold and woman.
Meeting is a prelude to parting.
Moksha is not freedom from action, but freedom in action.
More things belong to marriage than four bare legs on bed.
Most time is wasted not in hours but in minutes.
Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want to do because they want to do it.
My share of the work may be limited, but the fact that it is work makes it precious.
Never bend your head. Hold it high. Look the world straight in the edge.
Never leave till tomorrow, which you can do today.
Never risk; never gain.
Never trouble a trouble, till the trouble troubles you.
No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.
No one has a right to consume happiness without producing it.
Nothing great is ever achieved without enthusiasm.
Nothing is more difficult and therefore more precise than to be able to decide.
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.
Only fools will complicate simple things.
Only the educated are free.
Only those persons have won, who refused to become discouraged by their failures.
Only those really live who live for others. The rest are more dead than alive.
Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.
Patience creates confidence, decisiveness, and a rational outlook, which eventually leads to success.
People never plan to fail, often they just fail to plan.
People see what they are prepared to see.
Physical bravery is an animal instinct: moral bravery is a much higher and true courage.
Praise the sea, but keep on land.
Prevention is better than cure.
Prosperity makes some friends and more enemies.
Purity, perseverance and patience are the key to success.
Religion starts where science ends.
Remember that what you believe will depend very much on what you are
Rome was not built in a day.
Rudeness is weak man’s imitation of strength.
Security is mostly a superstition... Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
Shared joy is doubled and shared sorrow halved.
Since God cannot be everywhere, he has made mothers.
Society prepares a crime the criminal commits it.
Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon him.
Some people change their ways when they see the light and others when they feel heat.
Sometimes, facts are stranger than fiction.
Soul meets soul on lovers' lips.
Spiritual knowledge cannot be given, take it.
Stolen kisses are always sweetest.
Study as if you were to live forever. Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
Success doesn’t mean the absence of failures; it means the attainment of ultimate objectives.
Success has many fathers while failure is an orphan.
Success is a progressive realization of a worthy goal.
Successful persons monopolize the listening, while small people monopolize the talking.
Take up one idea, make that idea your life, think of that, dream of it and live on that idea. Let every part of your body full of that idea and just leave every other idea alone……This is the road to success.
Taking a new step, uttering a new word is what people fear most.
Talk less, think more and act wisely.
Temper takes you to trouble, pride keeps you there.
That service is noblest which is rendered for its own sake.
The answer is not separate from problem.
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.
The cause of today is the effect of past and the cause of future.
The child is the father of man.
The degree of unselfishness marks your degree of success everywhere.
The early bird gets the worm.
The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and wings of independence.
The hardest victory is the one you win over yourself.
The highest result of education is tolerance.
The less one think, the more he talks.
The mind grows by what it feeds on.
The mouth of a wise man is in his heart. The heart of a fool is in his mouth.
The pen is mightier than sword.
The price of greatness is responsibility.
The quality of work and quality of worker are inseparable.
The quality of your decisions depends on awareness of circumstances and sensitivity to the emotions of people who matter.
The secret of happiness is to make others believe that they are the cause of it.
the simplest way to be happy is to do good.
The three foundations of learning: seeing much, suffering much and studying much.
The tragedy of human history is decreasing happiness in the midst of increasing comfort.
The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one.
The world is like a mirror; if you smile, it smiles back and if you frown, it frowns back.
There can be no rainbow without a cloud a storm.
There is no great Genius without a mixture of madness.
There is nothing permanent, except change.
This thing that we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down.
This world is a beautiful book, but of little use to him who cannot read.
Those who win are those who think they can.
Time spent with laughing is time spent with Gods.
To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step in knowledge.
To commit a mistake is not a sin, but to repeat it is a great sin.
To develop your organization, give others a chance to spread their wings.
To err is human, to forgive is divine.
To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with
To love and to be loved is the greatest form of happiness.
To marry a woman for her beauty s like buying a house for its paint.
To misunderstand a person is easy, but to understand him is difficult.
Tolerance is the first principal of community; it is the spirit which conserves the best that all men think.
Violent delights have violent ends.
Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.
Waste of wealth is sometimes retrieved, but waste of time never.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit.
We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough.
We can give advice but we cannot give conduct.
We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
We know what we are, but don’t know what we may be.
We must always have old memories and young hopes.
We should not let success go to our heads, or our failures go to our hearts.
What is beautiful is not always good, but what is good is always beautiful.
What lies behind you and what lies before you are tiny matters compared to what lies within you.
What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to others.
Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.
Whatever you think, that you become. If you have to think, think good thoughts, great thoughts.
When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.
When God says ‘Today”, the Devil says “Tomorrow”.
When I did well, I heard never and when I did ill I heard ever.
When I was born I was so surprised I didn't talk for a year and a half.
When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
When the cat is away mice will play.
When tragedy strikes, I know I am not alone and if I fight the tragedy the whole world will be with me. I can win. If I moan and cry I will be alone.
Where there is a will there is away.
Whoever gossips to you, will gossip about you.
Without tact you can learn nothing.
Women’s chief weapon is tongue and they will not let it rust.
Work banishes three great evils: boredom, vice and poverty.
Work without prayer is like an artificial flower without any fragrance.
Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but it empties today of its strength.
You can change your life by altering your attitude.
You can’t learn from mistakes if you refuse to admit you made any.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You may be disappointed if you fail, but you will be doomed if you don’t try.
You may lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink
Your children are not your children. They may be coming through you; but not from you. They are the products of their own ambitions and aspirations.