Be The Companions of Our Next Generation
It takes time and effort to understand students’ needs. Teachers are important companions of students in their learning and personal development journey. Our Fellows do not only teach at high-need schools but also coach students and guide them to a better future path.
Vincent Chan (Fellow 2019-20) truly understands the importance in taking time and effort to understand students’ needs from his one-year Fellowship experience. He took the initiative to encourage the students after getting to know more about their backgrounds and emotions. He found it rewarding whether he saw improvements from the students he coached.
Thinking back to his Fellowship experience, Vincent recalled the time that his students invited him to play dodgeball in the class. He played with them in his suit, and the sun made it sweaty. Although they lost in the end, the students cheered so hard. It might be because there was not any teacher who played that hard for their class competition. Another student asked him to come to play after school again. After the game, they rested and chatted. From this experience, he decided that he does not only want to be a teacher, but also a companion that guides the students in their personal growth.
He remembers that there was a repeater in his class. She experienced difficulties in getting along with her classmates as most of her friends had been promoted to the next form. There were plenty of misunderstandings between the students and her family, leading to her thinking that she was not loved by her family. Vincent, as her science teacher, always thought about ways to help her to build up her confidence in class. With his encouragement, she became more active and confident. She took the initiative to ask questions when she encountered concepts that she didn’t understand. On the day when the transcript was issued, she immediately told Vincent “I did it!” Vincent was moved when he witnessed her growth. He was glad that he became the one whom she was willing to share the joy with.
There was another student who was labelled as a troublemaker at school. Instead of stereotyping him based on what the conduct record stated, Vincent proactively reached out to the students and got to know more about his situation. It turned out that he was experiencing some hardships, and he did not know how to express himself. Vincent admitted that there was not much he could do but to accompany him and to provide academic and mental support. Later, Vincent found that the student was a loyal fan of Star War. He encouraged the student to learn vocabulary from Star War movies. As they were both Christians, Vincent often encouraged him to pray together and support each other in faith. He has never thought that Star War and religion can help him in establishing bonding between him and his students.
Since young, we are told that students who are noisy and have rebellious behaviours are bad students that cannot achieve. We all have to be well-behaved in order to have a good result and a bright future. Indeed, it is easier to nurture good students as they may be smarter or more obedient, but we should never neglect the potential of every student. As the old saying goes “An uncut gem does not sparkle.”, if we are willing to devote more time to understand the needs of the students, we can also polish diamonds that shine.
