![recognition](https://i0.wp.com/tech4teachers.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/pexels-katerina-holmes-5905557-1-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1)
“I had an English seminar yesterday.” Started S., as I began my class. “The seminar went fine and we also had a quiz session at the end.” S. is a student in eighth grade and attends a class with me to learn English.
“At the end of the seminar, my teacher asked me for the quiz that I prepared. I am so happy that the teacher asked me – a student. This would help the students from the other batch…… After the class got over, K., another student from my class, asked the teacher why she gave the quiz part to me, not her. She seemed jealous that the teacher recognized my quiz and not hers. The teacher gave a befitting reply to K. –
“You are a very good student. If you do all the activities in the class, what will the others do? We should give a chance to the other students too to participate, right? Don’t think they have copied from you. You became their role model and that’s what matters.”
K. was not so happy. She was angry that we implemented her idea in a better way and got recognition from the teacher.” This incident gave me a few insights about the role of the teacher in the class.
1. Recognition does matter
Yes. Recognition from the teacher is a HUGE reward for the students. When utilized the right way, you unleash the surprising potential of your students.
However, when we lose control of the situation, it is a good idea to take a deep breath, think about the matter, and then react. (Shouldn’t we all be doing this all the time?)
A teacher’s attention has the capacity to become both the cause of a revolution and a war in the classroom.
So, teachers better be attentive and alert to how they give recognition to their students and their initiatives. It has the power to both make and break a student’s confidence in oneself.
2. Handling Things Well
Every person in that classroom is a human. They feel all human emotions like happiness, anger, hatred, jealousy, etc. What makes us teachers is how we conduct ourselves when we see such emotions in the classroom.
The teacher in this case did not try to blame anybody instead, gave an ego boost to the child claiming that others had stolen their idea. Keeping cool and handling things in a calm way can go way ahead.
Resolving disputes in the class can often be challenging. But, we improve every time we do it.