Turmoil and Teaching: Rising above challenges in the classroom

I have been writing about positive stories about being a teacher and how things always turn out for the better. However, that is not always the case. There are days where I have to teach for 6 hours continuously, but the most challenging classes are the times where I have to teach two different age groups. I remember a time where I had to teach a group of students whom were at the age of 10. After that session was over, it was off to teaching a lecture for students who were in their twenties.

There are days where I just want to give up and throw in the towel. But, class is not over yet, so pushing on is a must. I remember once being caught in the middle. One of the hardest thing a teacher has to deal with is to deal with a boss who is not supportive and parents who feel that they know better. If both situations happen at different times, it is manageable. However, if it happens at the same time, things can get very difficult. From these scenarios, I remember lessons that have been sen in a book by Robert Greene with the title, the 33 strategies of war.

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One aspect advocated by Greene in his book is the need to have the presence of mind, also known as the counterbalance strategy that can be used to handle difficult situations at work. The strategy advocates the need to maintain one's composure in extremely stressful situations. To put this into context, when handling any difficult classroom management issues or problems in education, here are three points that can be used:

Focusing on the goal

It can be demotivating when teaching a class whereby the students could be continuously failing. I had a class once where the students were constantly failing but were given automatic promotion to the next level due to bureaucracy. My task was then to do the best I can and help them improve. However, it can be difficult as failure after failure of half the class can be demotivating.

However, I remind myself to take a step back and focus on the goal. The goal in my case was just to help them improve and if that is achieved, I have to remind myself that it is a win. So how does this apply to you as a teacher or a Steemian? For one, you need to set yourself achievable goals. I use to start off my career by wanting to change the world, but find it very vague and rather difficult to achieve. I have since switched to just aiming to inspire and do as much as I can to help as many future teachers or students as I can. On Steemit, it can be difficult if you have started off with not much Steempower.

Thus, the only way one can succeed on this platform would be to constantly publish good materials consistently. One post a day seems like an achievable objective. However, when things do not go well, sometimes, you just have to take a pause.

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Pause and Reevaluate

I find rest to be one of the best way to stop and reevaluate my strategies. It is true that once we have gotten the hang of teaching, things become routine. However, with the constant changes in technology and students. Sometimes a reevaluation of how I teach is necessary. I used to subscribe to the memorization method as it was easy, my students are trained in that manner and it was just the way it was done all this while. However, it does not work forever and upon reevaluating my teaching method, I had to find a way that made learning both fun as well as to prepare my students for exams.

Sometimes pausing means going on a holiday and as much as I would hope to do that. Time does not permit to do so all the time. As such, I pause through my coffee making breaks. It gives me a good time to step back and take a look at the big picture before going back to the 'grind' again.

If you are on Steemit and find it difficult to think of things to write, take a step back and take a break. Before you know it, ideas will come flowing in.

You win some, you lose some

Of course, you will do an awesome lesson at times and there are times a cat falls through the roof, causing the whole class to be cancelled. Yes, that happened to me once but instead of complaining about how difficult it is to maintain control over a large class, perhaps, look at what you have gotten out of it. I'm sure there was something good. The largest class I had to facilitate was 560 students. I found out that maintaining a commanding presence and peppering the lesson with stories was a good way to keep most of the students engaged.

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At the end of the class, I enjoyed every bit of it. However, I had to call in sick for two days as I have lost my voice. I suppose at the end of the day, teaching is such a dynamic profession that everyone's experience is different. I do not seek to advice anyone on how to teach. However, I acknowledge that we all have our own challenges in our classrooms and here on Steemit. I totally recommend the book by Robert Greene and I hope that you can learn something in managing your classrooms, your workplace or even how you write on Steemit.

I hope this was helpful. Do let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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