Is Teaching the Curriculum Enough for Academic Success?

How does anyone become a teacher? What role does a teacher play in a child’s life? Is a teacher’s job to teach curriculum and assess students academic progress only?

Like any other profession, four years of undergraduate coursework and a few weeks of student teaching in one classroom under the guidance of a teacher mentor is required to become a teacher. Of course, you go through an interview process and if you are fortunate enough, you get your first job. 

The next thing you know is that you have a classroom, and everything seems so new: the students, the administration, the staff, the students’ families, and a curriculum to teach the syllabus in different subjects. You are flustered to find there are so many components to it and you are unaware of whether you are doing things the way it is required. 

After a year, you will probably teach the same curriculum and it will seem so much easier. What takes more time is to figure out that teaching curriculum is not the only job of a teacher. Why? Because you are dealing with children who have feelings and emotions that are impacted by experiences and people around them. 

It is very important to identify the individual differences and specific needs of your students that need to be met for learning to take place. Once you have gained their trust and they feel emotionally safe, the content in the curriculum will be grasped based on their learning potential. Your students should feel comfortable confiding in you and participate in the class without the fear of being ridiculed or laughed at. 

Only the teacher can make sure that he or she creates a culturally and socio-emotionally responsive classroom where students learn different subjects feeling at ease amidst respect, acceptance and tolerance.