From the lines of the poem “A Piece of Clay”, written by an anonymous writer, it goes:
“ I took a piece of plastic clay
And idly fashioned it one day
And as my fingers pressed it still,
It moved and yielded to my will
I came again when days were past:
The feel of clay was hard at last,
The form I gave it, still bore.
But I could change that form no more.”
In the lines of the poem, metaphorically, the child was likened to a clay which can be easily molded by a molder, as expressed by the speaker or the persona in the poem, who literally interpreted was the teacher , who synonymously also acted a surrogate parent.
A research result says, that only 5% of the totality of what the teacher had taught in the classroom, is being caught, acquired or learned by a child, the rest he learned at home, from peers, friends and other influences in his immediate environment. But more than these, oftentimes, a student imitate the hairstyle of his or her teacher, he /she imitates the way a teacher dresses-up, the way she teaches or moves, the way she /he talks, the way he/she projects her /his smile, a student more or less is fascinated, sometimes amazed by these projections of the teacher inside and outside the classroom , intentional or not, create an effect to student’s life. Apparently, teachers can be an influence to the students.
Students observe how a teacher maintains the classroom, how he/she manages the instructional program, handles stress, develops positive relationships with others, keeps a steady, even temperament and knows how to react well to problems and disappointments. Students feel that just like a mom communicates to a dad, they know that the teacher wants his/her messages to translate great love, deep concern, willingness to work together to solve problems and to share long time commitment.
Most of the time, being well-organized is one asset of a teacher that a student looked-up to. The students observed that everything has its own place in their classroom. This serves as a contagious disease that afflicts a student. Possessing neat files of works, notebooks , portfolios, and other projects are claimed by students as good things they learned and acquired from their teachers. they like the way the teacher organized the different instructional materials the use daily. They feel good seeing things which are clean and filed neatly; although, there are also students who are careless and do not mind the way their things are arranged.
The setting of realistic but challenging goals and expecting success by the teacher for his/her students are also very obviously observed by the students. They realized likewise, that teachers’ expectations, will mentally and physically stretch to achieve this success for students’ welfare in the future ,in any endeavor that they will partake.
Although at times, there are teachers who play favoritism, projects terrorism in her own way to students via classroom level, sometimes ,there are also teachers who humiliates and sow sarcasm, and worst comes to school unprepared and covers this by way of sudden tests ,are negative traits, that students will surely abhor.
In contrast, they love teachers who demonstrate leadership, those who are definite, those who are directive, those who are approachable, takes control of the class, those they feel serve as guidance counselor to them; most of all, they are quick to pick up undecisiveness, disorganization, lack of clear directions and good preparations which surely ,are an open invitations for problem behaviors.
Summing it up, teachers as locus parentis must be aware always of every move they execute inside and outside the real arena for students, the classroom.
By: MRS. CLEOPATRA B. MANALO | Master Teacher ll | Morong National High School
