Have you ever cheated on an exam in your childhood?
Actually, yes. I was a kid. I thought I was shrewd and believed I was taking a shortcut. My teacher later pulled me aside and explained why that wasn’t the smartest move. After all, what’s the point of cheating? Forget for a moment that it’s wrong, and getting caught comes with consequences. It’s actually a self-defeating purpose. We go to school in order to receive an education, and exams are not meant to judge but to determine whether we have grasped the lessons sufficiently to move on to higher levels. If we cheat in exams, and get away with it, all we’re doing is putting ourselves at a disadvantage when we face those more complex lessons. But keep in mind that while there is never an excuse for cheating, sometimes even students who’ve studied and understood the material draw a complete blank during exams or a variety of personal reasons or conditions.

What is your favorite book and movie?

Favorite book. That’s an easy one. I was 10 years old and we were required to read the Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. It made such a great impression on me that I immediately read the Lord of the Rings trilogy. For a child, having a world of elves and dwarfs and evil orcs, and seemingly insignificant little people who overcome the greatest challenges, it was an amazing experience. To this day it still gives me this warm feeling whenever I read it again. The movie version was quite well done, but it’s nothing like reading it and seeing all those visuals in your mind’s eye as you interpret them. My favorite movie is “Scent of a Woman,” because the message it conveyed and the talents of the remarkable were quite memorable.

Do you have a favorite student?

Absolutely, every last one of them. I’m greedy when it comes to that, because they’re all my favorites. Every one of my students is my pride and joy. They all somehow manage to become near and dear to my heart, like my own children, and how can you favor one of your children over the others? Like their own parents, I strive to mold them into decent, independent and competent human beings, and just as I take delight in their joys, I also suffer when they’re in pain. They’re the children of my heart, and their achievements
are my own triumphs. There are leaders hidden beneath their struggles for independence and establishment of identity. Many students are very vulnerable yet they are often treated with as part of a class and do not receive attention as individuals to overcome their concerns, and this tends to push them toward negative and destructive behavior. But if given an ear and a push, they simply become wonders!

Have you seen a change in generations of children you have taught? Like what?

In some ways children never change. Some show resistance, others think I’m not watching, and some don’t care if I am. They study, they don’t study, they pay attention, or not. Some days they’re full of passion for learning, and other days they’re morose. Even the same excuses are still fielded decade after decade. There are so many different ways in which I see the same behavior repeatedly. However, in many other ways, they are changing. Take
their interests; they evolve so quickly I’m hard-pressed to keep up. Technology is a perfect example. Laptops, iPods, MP3s, MP4s, YouTube, it all makes my head spin, but I have to familiarize myself with these gadgets because they matter to my kids, and that means they matter to me. They get into music much sooner now, they know about movies of which I’ve never heard. My eight-graders travel everywhere – North America, South America, Europe, the Far East. When I was in the eighth grade I think I went to the zoo. But they also seem to grow up faster. They’re more aware of their social environment, more aware of politics, world crises. Sometimes I feel like I’m the student when I listen to them.

Do you remember your own favorite or worst teacher? Why? How different are you from them?

I remember them quite well. In fact, the ones who challenged me the most, and urged me to persevere even when was I was overwhelmed, the ones who treated me with respect and took my opinions seriously are the ones I remember fondly today. They made me feel like I mattered, like my thoughts had value and they contributed greatly to my development and selfesteem. These select teachers respected us, called us by our fist names because most of the rest used our family names. So I took that from them and made sure I knew so much more about my students than their grades and their names. As far as the worst teachers are concerned, yes I remembe  some bad teachers. Today, I realize they were good people but simply in the wrong profession. Clearly some teachers are more talented than others, but all people who are born to be teachers do quite well. Other people are simply better suited for other professions but for one reason or another end up in the teaching profession, and consequently fail to deliver the goods. I try to be like the ones that made a positive impression, and in that sense I am like them because I try to give my students the very values and attitudes that made my own teachers shine, but also I’m different because My own contribution to my students is a combination of each of their influences as well as my own personality and values.

Is being a teacher your passion? Why or why not?

Well, clearly because the pay is so enticing. Seriously though, I truly believe that knowledge is a tool that puts any dream within reach and makes anything possible, and nothing causes more joy than to know that you are providing countless children with that tool, equipping them with what they need to realize their own dreams and aspirations. It’s a long road, and comes with numerous challenges, but when you take it a day at a time, the delight you feel every time you see the eyes of a child light up with understanding due to your efforts, well, it’s unlike anything else. Knowing that your labors will make a positive difference in their lives, help them become their persons, how can you not want that?

If you were to be a minister of education, what would you be remembered for?

Easy. I’d eliminate rote learning. For decades schools and educators have been drilling material into children’s heads in the same manner. They go home, they memorize the lesson, they come to class and parrot out everything, and they pass the course. Then they forget everything because they never knew why it mattered. The meaning behind the lesson is never learned. Knowing the answer has become the achievement instead of knowing how the lesson impacts their lives, how it can help them and let them understand the world, life, values. They may know where the River Nile is, and can find it on a map, but how about the countless tales that go with it? In fact, I’d reform education altogether, introduce more contemporary practices that stimulate the mind and nurture initiative, encourage students to question the lesson and give them opportunities to identify the challenge on their own before they are asked to present a solution. Also, I’d probably have school start at 10 a.m. and become the best-loved education minister of all time.

Do you use technology in your classroom? If yes, like what?

Well like I said, I try to keep up with my students’ interests, and technology plays a large part in that. Take for example podcasts; my students find it convenient to have a lesson available as a digital document on their iPods that can be accessed at any time. It helps clarify points they missed in class, or which they needed to review again. In addition, it puts on the same page, and we have common ground on which we can interact. Obviously personal computers, laptops, also contribute to a great extent in facilitating the learning process. The Internet places a massive store of information at their fingertips, and this is something I encourage. They learn how to conduct research, and obviously the Internet can help improve their reading skills. In addition, there are countless website  which offer remarkable teaching tools.

Have you ever identified yourself with a student? If yes, did you treat them differently?

Like everyone else, I was a student, and I faced many of the same challenges that my own students face. Now that I know the difficulties I faced, despite the anguish they caused, were not as dire as they seemed when I was   student, I realize that to my students those same challenges seem equally insurmountable, and I obviously identify with them and their dilemmas. But I can put my own experience to good use by providing insight and encouragement when the world seems bleak, showing them that the clouds will part and the issues that are of concern to them will eventually no longer matter. Naturally, I identify with some students more than others, simply because their current circumstances mirror my own at that stage in life. Seeing a student struggling through family difficulties while trying to keep schoolwork under control, seeing them face difficulties in social interaction,
issues with low self-esteem and insecurities, these are all things many teachers like myself have also experienced as students, and naturally when you see your own students go through it, you feel that connection.

By Staff