THE JOY OF A TEACHER_ BY KAREEM ABAYOMI

Yesterday reminded me how much I have missed the classroom.

I was in the Junior Secondary School 3 class in my Teaching Practice school. The students were given an assignment to write a short story on the topic, “Not All That Glitters Is Gold.”

Marking their write-ups gave me so much joy. The creativity, the plot, the constructions, and the logical thinking amazed me. As someone who loves natural creativity, I was really impressed.

This means that with all the havoc advancement in technology has been wreaking in this generation, if teachers can take their proper place and deliver the goods, all hope is not lost in terms of learning, creativity, originality, and critical thinking.

As humans, we have an innate capacity to think logically. This is one of the attributes that differentiates us from other creatures.

However, in this age and era, this endowment is being underused due to some technological breakthroughs, especially Artificial Intelligence. This has left a lot to be desired in the way young people think, interact, learn, and the kind of content they consume.

While these technology tools are not evil in themselves, over-reliance on them is having an adverse effect on our dynamics as humans, and young people are the most affected.

Young people can hardly do any mental exercises, ranging from simple calculations, logical reasoning, stringing together simple, correct sentences, and keeping up with current affairs, to solving personal or academic-related problems without consulting these products of technology.

Our supposed strength and uniqueness are now ceded to machines. And if the salt loses its flavour, how shall we make it salty again? It is no longer good for anything.

Are we going to watch until things deteriorate to this point?

All things being equal, the level of the knowledge and intelligence of a teacher will obviously tell on his students. Show me your student(s) and I will tell you the kind of teacher you are.

The topic for the day was Consonant Contrast. During the class, they were asked the meaning of compare and contrast. One of them said, “Compare is to show similarities, while contrast means differences.”

What more?

Keep it simple, stupid.

These are some of the instances when you feel so proud as a teacher.

Mind you, that doesn't mean that when the students are average or poor, it is altogether the fault of the teacher. There are other factors and variables that contribute to students' learning abilities, such as individual differences (fast learners, slow learners, introverts, extroverts, ambiverts), environment, among others.

Nevertheless, the joy of every teacher is seeing positive outputs of their inputs.

If there are good teachers in our classrooms who have mastery of their subjects and subject matter, and also have good classroom management, discouraging students from becoming over-reliant on Artificial Intelligence would not be impossible.

Artificial Intelligence is meant to enhance productivity, not replace creativity. It is meant to aid learning, not replace it.

Therefore, teachers should equip and position themselves to help students learn the right way, put in the hard work, and challenge their innate abilities to think and solve problems.

The potential is always there, waiting to be unlocked and sharpened, but the destructive alternative is too enticing for them. The teachers' job now is to make it unattractive and promote traditional learning in more attractive ways through competent delivery of lessons.

© KAREEM ABAYOMI

-Nigeria.