“T” is for “Teacher”
The Role of the Teacher in Education
This blog is part of a very special series created and written by Phyllis Knox, “Alphabetic Musings”, whereby she chooses a word starting with a particular letter from the alphabet and injects it with her storytelling magic.
Did you even know that such a thing existed? I just found out that TEACHER’S DAY is celebrated here in Canada every year! Teachers are being celebrated today, October 5, 2023.
Google describes teaching as “to show or explain (to someone) how to do something…to educate, instruct, tutor, give lessons to, coach, and train.”
According to digitalclassworld: “A teacher is to help students learn by imparting knowledge to them and also refers to a person who teaches them…A child is like clay and teachers can shape the child in any form...teachers provide them with education and knowledge...they are an encouraging factor, confident booster, and moral support for students...In general, teachers mean to teach students the specific syllabus and impart knowledge about the specific curriculum...it becomes the responsibility of a teacher to teach students in such a way that they enjoy learning and focus on learning...A good teacher while teaching should connect various subjects to real-life situations and try to make the subject understandable to them...If a teacher appreciates and boosts confidence, it will be more effective for students...A teacher can make students cross any barrier...words like “good job” and “keep it up” can do wonders...A teacher “provides guidance, changes lives for the better and acts as a model and... provides the strength of the students.”
I remember reading or hearing the following words many, many years ago:
If you can, you do.
If you can’t do, you teach.
And
If you can’t teach, you teach teachers!
I just thought that I would add the words above as some food for thought. Not everyone feels the same way about the teaching profession.
The first teachers whose classes I was lucky enough to be part of were teaching nuns. They were part of the Assumption Congregation and many of them had come to Three Rivers from the Boston, Massachusetts area and they brought their Bostonian accents with them. Even today, I might say,” Where did I pahk my cah?” (park my car). I consulted Google and typed in my question: What is the Bostonian pronunciation of the words park & car? In seconds, I got a response which covers all the bases and explains the dilemma with such precision. It explains: “To master R-dropping, listen carefully to Boston speakers and try to mimic their pronunciation, focusing on words like “car” and “park”. They spoke in such a way that I, as a child, tried to imitate. Little did I know that one day, that trick would serve me many times throughout my career.
Another characteristic of these hard-working nuns was that their classrooms were impeccable. The blackboards (which were green) were washed every day, the erasers were vacuumed when the students left, and the teachers stayed behind to clean up. They wrote on those boards in a manner that was, perfect, legible for all. There was a sense of pride as we were taught the rules and told to abide by those rules. There was no questioning those rules and we knew it! I am writing of a time gone by, a time some 65 years ago when the teachers were called Sister Theresa or Sister Lucy or Sister Ralph. Each was unquestionably the boss. We sat at our designated desks and did what we were told…or else (maybe our parents would get a call or we would have to stay after school and miss the city bus, get home late and have to explain to our parents that we had done something terrible... like laugh during our history class, oh, oh!). We were taught to write down the letters of the alphabet in such a way that they were legible and attractive to the eye. Holding our HB pencils right and practicing for hours in our Cahier Canada booklets was an inevitable part of an every-day class for years. We learned to listen, play, co-operate, be respectful, work hard, try our best. Yet, nothing could beat the sound of the recess and lunch bells, which I perceived as a ‘recompense’… a way to enjoy the time allotted, a way to enjoy the freedom outside. Regardless of the weather, whether rain, or snow, a blizzard, freezing cold, or blistering heat, we went outside. ALWAYS!.
Reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmatic were the basic skills we were taught. I can remember the spelling bees throughout my years at St. Pat’s. I can remember them so well because that was the one and only time that I shone (or is it shined?)! I was at school to have fun, to play with my friends, to join basketball teams, to talk to the boys even! Learning was, I thought, a secondary reason for being part of the system.
As I finished primary school and happily went up to the second floor as a Freshman high school student, I was thrilled to see so many changes. New teachers had been hired. Young men and women from New Brunswick had signed up to teach us. We called them Sir or Miss. We heard a different accent. Four years passed in a flash, we graduated from our senior year, and we went on with our lives, finding our ways to universities, jobs and beyond.
Some of those same teachers and students remain in my memory to this day. Some classmates are still in my life. I remember a very special teacher, Mr. Ronald Roy, who taught English grammar while I was in First High. He would, enthusiastically, go to the board and write and write and write until there was no space left to add another word. He thought that everyone would now understand the complexities of the written word and its detailed places in a logical sentence with subject, verb and object. Sometimes his method worked, but other times not so much. He would look at us, smile and say, “I told you that you would understand, good work, class!” Nobody ever said a word. Learning went on and eventually, as the months went by, Mr. Roy’s hard work and determination helped us to pass the provincial governmental exams. Thank you, Sir!
I can still feel the excitement of the day that I knew that I had, somehow, come to understand the system of English grammar. I will always be grateful to Mr. Roy. He taught us the precise way to put one’s ideas down on paper or how to speak clearly. One day, I looked at the much-filled board and I saw the light! I then understood the complex yet clear path to the communication of ideas. Soon, I would become an avid reader and a lover English. I also understood, at that very moment, that I would become a teacher just like Mr. Roy. Like him, I would talk, explain, give examples, and fill the blackboard with words and sentences. That dream which was dreamt (or dreamed) back in 1963 would actually come to pass.!
In the summer of 1969, I started my first paid job. I trained for over 10 hours to teach at Berlitz. This school uses a system of repetition. The teacher says, “A book” (showing the book) and the students repeat, “A book”. Teacher: “This is a book”. Student: “This is a book.” Teacher while nodding says, “Is this a book? Yes,” the student responds. I need not go on, you get the gist. Throughout my university years at the Université du Quebec à Trois-Rivieres (UQTR), I gave a lot of private lessons at home or for company groups, such as Bell Canada. I taught in offices, at neighbourhood centres, and I helped kids with their schoolwork as a tutor. Then one day, I was offered a real job at the cégep de Trois-Rivières in Adult Education. I was thrilled! Then, came an offer to go to Victoriaville and teach ESL (English second-language). I had achieved what I had set out to do. I had a full-time well-paying job in an institution that gave me all the quirks I had never thought possible. Every day was a challenge, every day was a joy! My favourite classes were those that covered verb tenses (especially the past, present, future, and conditional perfect tenses). Not to mention, the fabulous gerunds and how they fit into our English sentence structures.
I loved each and every one of the young people who sat at the desks facing me and actually did what was asked of them (most of the time). They made me happy, they respected me and made my career much more than just a job. I thank them all for all those wonderful days and years and the memories I am left with! I taught my last class in mid-December 2010 but, it feels like yesterday.
P.S., I now thank you, my bloggers, for reading this blog post, for travelling with meback to my formative years in teaching. All the best to you, our future and newly-trained teachers. You are so lucky!
Phyllis (Knox)
