What or who inspired you to be an educator?
Teaching has always been a dream for me since I was in school, I have always looked upon teaching as a noble profession and was always inspired by my own teachers and valued the difference that they made in my life.
You won the Stationary Warehouse NZ’s Most Inspiring Teachers 2013 award – how does it feel to be recognised?
This award means a lot to me because it means a lot to my school (Birkenhead College) and my students, and it acknowledges the teaching profession. I think awards like this inspires teacher to work even harder. I always try to put my school and especially my students ahead of myself. My school and all the students that I have taught have given me opportunities to grow which I really appreciate. Hence I will come up with more innovative techniques to assist my students’ progress and to ensure that they achieve results of the highest possible calibre.
What do you love most about working with students?
Students are filled with energy, excitement and new experiences. No two students are alike and each experience their teen years uniquely. This makes my job very exciting! In teaching every day is different and we face different challenges and have to come up with new techniques to find solutions to students’ problems (both inside and outside of the classroom).
What have your students taught you?
I have learned some fantastic qualities and skills from my students (and I’m still learning..) For example, have fun in whatever you do, be willing to take on a challenge without hesitating, don’t be judgemental, do not bear a grudge, don’t be afraid to make mistakes and above all live for today and try not stress or worry too much about tomorrow.
You implemented peer tutoring at the college – how have your students responded and why do you think it is a good way of learning?
Since my motive every year is for my students to excel in their Maths, I am more than happy to use my free time in helping out my students. I am determined that no student will get left behind and not achieve. Having said this, there are only so many hours in a day so I thought that using our senior students as peer tutors would allow us to reach more students. It also gives these senior students a leadership opportunity, a chance to give something back to their school and allows them to brush up on their own Maths skills - what is better than learning through teaching?!
How important is it to you to provide your students with feedback?
It is very important for students to get constant feedback as they learn. This is because the knowledge that they are doing well and continually improving gives students a sense of achievement which motivates them to learn even more and set higher and higher goal and standards for themselves. Similarly, it is also important to let students know when they have made a mistake so that they will learn from it and take corrective measures. Hence, it is absolutely essential for teachers to monitor students’ learning and give them feedback. Feedback can be given to individual students, to a group of them, or to the whole class. I try to use all of these methods but I personally believe it is of the utmost importance to give individual feedback as each student has different learning needs.
Many students find maths complicated – in what ways do you try to engage students and make learning fun?
I try to create a quiet learning environment where students are able to learn and feel confident in seeking assistance. During teaching time I endeavour to break things down into simple concepts and then have the students practice this until their confidence and skills improve. I find that students really respond well to this which means they are engaged with their Mathematics learning well. To be honest, I sometimes do fun and interesting things but the majority of the time I feel that structure, practice, setting high standards and building students’ confidence are my strengths.
My number one aim is to build confidence. Confidence begets attention, which begets rich learning. I always reduce things to tiny steps, gauge the size of each step to the student and raise the bar incrementally. Therefore as they grow more confident, they get excited, and they begin requesting harder challenges. Students love success and they love getting to higher levels, like in a video game. Math is like a ladder. If you miss a step, sometimes you can’t go on and then you start losing your confidence.
I also try and make my lessons more interesting by making it more meaningful rather than just method based learning.
What drives you to go the extra mile?
I go the extra mile purely because of my love and concern for my students. Many students struggle in Maths and I try and give them as much help as I can whether it is at lunch time, after school or any of my free time. Also, there are so many outstanding teachers at Birkenhead College who inspire me to work hard. It is in my nature and my upbringing to give myself one hundred percent to everything that I attempt to do.
What can other educators take away from your story? Do you have any advice for other teachers?
I hope my story inspires other teachers to be passionate about teaching and working with children. My only advice to teachers would be not to consider teaching as a job but enjoy what they do and do their job with genuine passion. We should all be excited about having the opportunity to influence students’ lives and understand the impact that we can have on their lives.
- IWK Bureau