Passion

I have had many amazing teachers in my lifetime. All of them have been very passionate about their jobs. Some I remember better than others because they made more of an impact on my life, but none of my teachers have actually been indifferent about their job or their students. Maybe I lucked out, but maybe passion just comes with the job. I think that for a career such as teaching, you have to be passionate about the subject area, the job and the students. You won't survive if you aren't! I think your first five years of teaching are similar to a "weed out" class, like freshmen biology. You find out pretty quickly whether you love the class (in this case the job) or not. And if you don't, it is not the type of job you just stick it out for. No, if you can't handle being a teacher, you get out of their fast. Those who remain teachers are passionate about what they do - they wouldn't be their otherwise!

Authenticity

Understanding the value and use of authenticity in the classroom is a tough bundle to unwrap. Like any seemingly good thing there are times when authenticity can hinder the educational experience of a student. Mostly, however, I believe that educators who are authentic with themselves, their co-workers and their students improve the atmosphere of the school at large.

One major struggle teachers have with authenticity is knowing where to set boundaries and when to tear them down. A big part of figuring that out is understanding the maturity level of the students you are working with. I had a teacher my senior year of high school who just didn't get that we weren't in middle school anymore. She was teaching an upperclassmen science fiction literature course, but it was her first time teaching in a high school. She had previously been teaching at the middle school level and it was evident in the way she related to her students. Open discussion was completely out of the question in her classroom. She wouldn't acknowledge a student unless they raised their hand. The students had zero respect for her and her "lock-down" approach to controlling the class. She chose not to be authentic with us, the students, in a way that made her look ignorant of our capabilities and inapproachable as a teacher. She never expressed her mistakes or where she was coming from in effort to protect herself from getting walked on.

This brings up another point, students are incredibly perceptive. They can read teachers like picture book. We knew that we scared our teacher and we knew that it was in effort to gain respect and control in the classroom that she acted the way she did. I think this is the biggest reason for being authentic as a teacher. You can't hide much, so don't try to. Be honest, yet professional. Share stories about your personal life and be sure to include the times you made mistakes. Humility within your authenticity gains a lot of respect and trust in the relationships between you and your students. Being real about your expectations and goals is extremely beneficial to students as well. Like, Mr. Doung did, share with your students why you are in the classroom and why you care. Simple things like that establish a bond that makes learning that much easier for the students.

Compassion

As I look back on the many years spent in public schools and the numerous teachers that passed fleetingly through my life, each one made an impression on my life that has left me changed. Not all made good impressions and some impressions were simply impressions with neither significantly positive nor significantly negative impacts. The one teacher that stands out as being the most compassionate teacher I have ever come across is Mr. Doung (pronounced young).

Mr. Doung was my ninth grade honors algebra teacher. He was a short, yet hefty Korean man. Because he was born in Korea, he often forgot when it was grammatically appropriate to pluralize words. He was a wrestling coach for the middle school and he often was asking the boy who sat next to me what his weight was because the boy had wrestled for Mr. Doung previously. These things are simply miniscule details that I remember about Mr. Doung and his math class, what really impacted me about him was his compassion for his students.

Like I had mentioned previously, Mr. Doung was born in Korea. One day towards the beginning of the year Mr. Doung decided it was important that his students know how he came to America and why he became a math teacher - it was a really inspiring story. Mr Doung and his family had been black listed essentially in Korea and had to take small boats in the middle of the night to neighboring countries to escape from persecution. Eventually making it to America, Mr Doung had a hard time becoming acclimated to an entirely english speaking, foreign environment. He hated school because he couldn't speak english well so he associated himself with people who didn't care about grades. He became tough and fought a lot.

His freshmen year of high school, the school's football coach took notice of him and asked him to play football for the team. Mr. Doung wanted to join, but his grades weren't sufficient enough for him to play. So his football coach got him the help he needed. Mr Doung came to have an appreciation for math especially because it was the same no matter what language you spoke. Finally things were making sense for him. He accredits his success in high school to his football coach who took the time to support him and get him the help he needed. In response to what his football coach did for him, Mr. Doung decided that that is exactly what he wanted to do for all students! So, he became a math teacher.

This was a very inspiring story, but it was more than the story that made Mr. Doung so compassionate in my mind. It was the fact that he actually followed through with his actions. His class was fun, and he got the material across. He was completely honest with students and he would go to any lengths to help a student out. He knew his students, in a way that he could confront them about issues that they were having in their lives. He supported them and empathized with them. He legitimately cared for them. He even knew his students well enough to know the difference between when they were making a silly mistake on a test or when they actually didn't know the material. I remember a few times when he would walk around the classroom during tests and simply point at my paper and whisper "negative sign." I had simply forgot to write the negative sign and he didn't want to have to take away points for little errors such as that.

There was one time that I was definitely on the receiving end of Mr. Doung's compassion. I hadn't turned in my homework that day, and that was very unusual for me. After class Mr. Doung pulled me aside and simply asked what was up. For some reason I felt like he just knew what was going on in my life. He ventured to guess what the stressor was and why I hadn't turned in my homework. Long story short, part of the stress was from breaking up with a boyfriend. Mr. Doung showed his compassion for me by telling me that I didn't need a man to feel worth and other similar words of encouragement. I have never met another teacher like Mr. Doung with so much care for his students well-being, let alone their academic success. All of these things make Mr. Doung the most compassionate teacher I have ever had in my academic career.

Respect

        Respect is earned, never just doled out randomly. It can also take on many appearances; it can look like caring about, honoring or even fearing the respected person. As a teacher, I believe one should never establish respect in the form of fear. It undermines any potential benefit and education might have on a student. Instead of learning, they are concerned with how their behavior might cause unwanted consequences. They steer clear of anything to do with the teacher even if they have questions that keep them from understanding the material. This fear may even turn the student completely away from the specific academic discipline, possibly even academia all together! Teachers need to be very careful when establishing respect within the classroom so as not to get a response of such honor that it turns to fear.
        So, how do you get respect in the classroom? A friend once told me that she had a teacher who always started class asking if the students wanted to learn or have snacks and play games instead. Obviously all the kids chose to have snacks and play games. All the students knew this person was an aweful teacher, but they were satisfied to play games rather than expand their knowledge. Sometimes teachers either think that they can earn respect by being cool and letting their students do what they want, or maybe they are just lazy. In this case, and I think in all cases like it, the response from the students is not respect. To the students this looked like a lack of concern or care for them or the subject matter. That is definitely not worthy of their respect! I think a big part of respect comes from you demonstrating your love for the subject, teaching, learning and especially the students. Have you ever hear the phrase, "Smiles are contagious."? A teacher's enthusiasm for his or her job is just as contagious.
        Some other simple ways to earn respect in the classroom are: know your students, teach to an objective, and make learning fun. Knowing your students seems simple enough, and it really is! Know their names and more. Get to know them as individuals so that you can distinguish their strengths and weakness. Establish a relationship as a mentor rather than a teacher. Mentors are more approachable and show concern for their "apprentices." When teaching, make sure you teach to an objective. I don't mean to say that stories and tangents in classroom discussions are completely bad, but make sure to always tie everything back to the objective for the day's lesson. If you just ramble on about nothing, students are going to think you are stupid, and it doesn't actually teach them anything. Rambling also has the negative side effect of boring students which exponentially increases the likelihood of them goofing, a.k.a. being disrespectful. Finally, make learning fun! think of those hilarious stories that apply to what you are teaching. Play games that help the students understand the material. Do whatever it takes to positively motivate students to learn! If you keep students entertained, not only are they going to love you, they aren't going to have the time to disrespect you because they are enthralled in what they are doing.
          There are many ways to earn respect, and those different ways may bring about care, honor or even fear. I think that the best teachers earn the type of respect that benefits the students education the most. Therefore, being scary is not going to cut it; neither is being lazy. Some simple ways of earning respect in the classroom are love the job, know the students, teach to an objective and make learning fun. These methods will give the teacher his or her desired response from the students and maximize the students learning.