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 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 confident is the only reason, since there was an expectation to increase the students competitiveness at national level. We, the lecturers, push and put them in our created 'hell' during our 4-5 years training. When the students work hard and perform well, we are confident that they will be adaptable and successful in 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. They 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 a knowledge!
Then, I adjusted my style. I put control on my respond, tone and expectation towards the students. If I got frustrated in explaining a concept to one or two native students, I asked their native peers to help them. Later, I was praised by some native students because of being clear and organized. Suddenly I started to feel very confident to teach 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 be taught in stern environment. Their teachers don't really praise them for their achievements, point out more on their weaknesses, and expect them to be a high performer. Majority of their teachers incline to spoon feeding them with knowledge rather than ask them to find out themselves. They find it is difficult to work without direction, because their creativity means taking too much time to evaluate the whole class performance. In Asia, we're commonly dealing with a highly-number of students in one class, so efficiency means a lot to every teacher. As the result, majority of the students become quite dependent and spoiled. They prefer to ask than think independently, because the final output is more meaningful in evaluating their performance.
No wonder, it takes a huge tons of discipline to achieve the same level of standard with students from developed country. We also worry if they don't perform well, since it means they have small opportunities in life after graduation.
However, in the past two years, I began to evaluate my style in teaching. Gradually, I become nicer and more positive to the students.
Yet, there is always an impression that I'm a stern lecturer (elephant never forget, I guess), but I am more approachable and focus on their ability than their poor attitudes now. I told more stories and cases to lift up their motivation and to enhance their knowledge about in many aspects. Sometimes I challenge them to work beyond their limit, but not too pushy like any military general anymore.
I also started to appreciate a process in doing anything.
I was taught by my own experience in doing research or study abroad, that the lecturers sometimes more value the hard work than the final results. It is also important to do an impressive work, but it is not always the case if the impact of the hard work is more obvious for a long term performance.
Final reason, may be because of 'the age'. The older we are, the wiser and more tolerant we will be, normally. No further explanation is needed.
Pekanbaru,
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