I pointed out one thing about 'being a nice lecturer' to our students.
Before I went to Australia, I was known as a 'stern lecturer'. I was not proud of it, but I couldn't change my attitude to students that easily. I had a strong reason to behave like a 'killer professor'. It was difficult to discipline the students with nice and gentle manners. Presumably, they react better under stiff direction and in a harsh environment.
Perhaps lack of confidence is the only reason since there was an expectation to increase the student's competitiveness at the national level. We, the lecturers, push and put them in our created 'hell' during our 4-5 years of training. When the students work hard and perform well, we are confident that they will be adaptable and successful in the working environment.
However, when I taught students in Australia, I must admit that my 'stern' style was not applicable in their environment, except for Asian students.
I was seen once as a strange tutor.
It was not nice until one day, I realized that the essence of working in a typical stable and developed environment is that students don't need too many directions because they are very independent and self-directed. So, there's no need to be a stern tutor in that class. I'm just delivering knowledge!
Then, I adjusted my style. I controlled my response, tone, and expectations towards the students. If I got frustrated explaining a concept to one or two native students, I asked their native peers to help them. Later, some native students praised me for being clear and organized. Suddenly, I started to feel very confident about teaching them.
How about the Asian students?
Well, I used a modified-stern approach to them.
I was still quite severe but in a different way.
Asian students are used to being taught in a stern environment. Their teachers don't praise them for their achievements, point out their weaknesses more, and expect them to be high performers. Most of their teachers tend to feed them with knowledge rather than ask them to find out themselves. They find it challenging to work without direction because their creativity means taking too much time to evaluate the whole class's performance. In Asia, we commonly deal with many students in one class, so efficiency means a lot to every teacher. As a result, most students become quite dependent and spoiled. They prefer to ask rather than think independently because the final output is more meaningful when evaluating their performance.
No wonder it takes a lot of discipline to achieve the same level of standard as students from developed countries. We also worry if they don't perform well since it means they have few opportunities in life after graduation.
However, in the past two years, I have begun to evaluate my teaching style. Gradually, I have become nicer and more positive to the students.
Yet, there is always an impression that I'm a stern lecturer (elephants never forget, I guess), but I am more approachable and focus on their abilities rather than their poor attitudes now. I tell more stories and cases to lift up their motivation and enhance their knowledge in many aspects. Sometimes, I challenge them to work beyond their limit, but I am not too pushy like any military general anymore.
I also started to appreciate the process of doing anything.
My own experience in doing research or studying abroad taught me that lecturers sometimes value hard work more than the final results. It is also important to do impressive work, but it is not always the case if the impact of the hard work is more obvious for long-term performance.
The final reason may be' age'. The older we are, the wiser and more tolerant we will normally be. No further explanation is needed.
Pekanbaru,
No comments:
Post a Comment