Jack of all trades, teaching is fun: A cool dad to my students

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This is my third and final post of the jack of all trades posts. It was a little experiment to see if I could write on all the tasks a teacher is required to do. But, I thought I would end this because a lot of the roles may either be irrelevant or just rather boring to write about. So, I shall end this by writing about the final job and the most enjoyable one that I think every teacher should embrace. That job is being a cool dad to the students.

In many ways, we are parents to our students. We nag them, we want the best for them, we get angry when they do not do well in their exams, we worry about them and at times, we feed them and clothe them. The feed them and clothing them part depends on the age of students you teach. I teach many different groups of students, but I am always a teacher trainer first. As such, it will be rather awkward to have to clothe my teacher trainees. They are perfectly capable of doing that themselves, I think.

Inside the class, my students refer to me by many names, sometimes teacher, sometimes Mr Alvin and sometimes Dad. Yes, I nag them, want the best for them and do all the things mentioned in the previous paragraph. However, one thing that I have to do, is being the cool dad. Being a cool dad is a very tough job, imagine being a parent to teenagers and you are not allowed to yell first and ask questions later, or in the Asian context, beat first and ask questions later. When it comes to beating, we mean it as a metaphor of course =)

While the job scope that a cool dad is required to do can be complex, I would like to break it down to three major roles:

Popular culture genius

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Being a cool dad is extremely tough too because you are no longer allowed to listen to songs from your time. For my case, backstreet boys and N'sync are lame and I should be listening to songs that they are interested in. As such, I should be able to quote every Sam Smith, Justin Bieber or Ariana Grande song there is or whoever is current. It gets even more complex because my students could have no interest in Hollywood and instead love k-pop. That is when I am at a lost.

However, I can still win the guys over with my mean Dota 2, Call of duty and Starcraft 2 skills. Not enough to beat an E-sports pro that once grace my class, but good enough to bond with them. The guys in my class have no idea what I am talking about when it comes to education psychology, second language acquisition or classroom management. Things change once I relate how a Terran drop on the opponents' mineral line is akin to identifying the ring leaders who are the troublemakers in the classroom. I do run out of game references at times, so I have watched most of the mainstream Japanese anime there is out there. Telling the guys how Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development is how Naruto was able to develop all his other Jutsus always help them grasp the concepts better.

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As for the ladies in the class, I had to read most of Nicholas Sparks books to help draw some links, not to mention most of the twilight saga, although that was years ago. Korean dramas like descendants of the sun are a must just to help contextualize difficult contexts for some of them finding it hard to understand concepts in education research.

As per the title of this section, I do not claim that I am a popular culture genius. However, there is an expectation once you are able to quote the first two lines of 'too good at goodbyes" by Sam Smith. I can live with expectations, but there is one thing that I am unable to do is to read minds.

Psychic

Have you ever asked someone what's wrong and all the say is 'nothing'. Although they may say 'nothing' but every single part of their non-verbal communication points to something being wrong. That brings us to the next role of being a cool dad, which is to be a psychic. I have learnt over the years on how to do my homework well before asking if something is wrong. I find one of the best parts of identifying what is bothering the students is that it adds a dash of humanity to the teacher-student relationship. It helps them realize that they are not alone and that they have someone to rely on.

Most of my students are from other areas, for some, it is their first time being away from home. As such, it is not difficult to gauge what problems they face. However, there was a time when I was blindsided and one of my students was actually pregnant. The rules were clear and I had to suspend her for a year. As painful as that was, I advised her on the steps she had to take before she continued her studies and did managed to put in a good word for her. Personally, I do not think that it is fair to terminate her contract, but a suspension is beneficial for her as it gives her some time to spend with her newborn baby.

The occasional drill sergeant

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Let me be clear, I do not support physical nor corporal punishment. I know that scolding, beating or physically hurting someone does not help them learn a lesson effectively. I refer to drill sergeant in this case as someone who calls out mistakes or misbehavior when there is some. We live in a time where people blame the next generation, the millennials for being slow, entitled and weak. However, I think mentoring them well is the way to go and if it requires me to call them out for doing something wrong, so be it.

I once called out my class for an overall lack of effort in their research project. The excuse given was that they had no time and they were too busy. I am normally rather understanding, but spending four hours on naps and movies is not 'busy' and so addressed the class I did.

I also ask for weekly reports on their research progress not because I want to add to their workload, but it it crucial that they complete their work well. If they are able to do it well, their work can be beneficial for their career in the future. Many of which are now pursuing their masters now and I am happy for them.

Conclusion

I love teaching and as I am now on my three year study leave pursuing my PhD, I do miss teaching. I still meet my students for the occasional dinners and it has been a wonderful journey thus far. I am quite disappointed that when I complete my studies, my students too would have graduated and become teachers. That being said, I suppose that is what being a teacher or cool dad is all about, you are sad to see the students leave, but happy at the same time that they have all grown up.

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