We know that people who teach us are called teachers. However, not everyone has all the qualities to teach; very few people indeed think about becoming a teacher and take steps to educate others. Among the good teachers, some take the initiative to create history and make an example for others. Tyler Hester is such a person who has taken the teaching profession to a different level and he is creating milestones for others when it comes to managing classrooms.
Tyler Hester is the current Senior Managing Director of Teach for America. He is living in Richmond, California. He completed his undergraduate from Stanford University, and later went to Cambridge University and studied Education Policy and Politics. At first, he taught secondary English at Public schools in Southern California and also in the Bay Area. Right now, he is supporting and helping the teachers of Richmond by teaching them about management of their classes by using some techniques, which motivate students to be more attentive and persuasive. Not every teacher is successful from the beginning of his career, and Tyler Hester is a good example of that. He talked about his first experience of teaching. He could hardly manage the class and finally he had to call the Dean to control the students. He also said, when Teach for America started taking classes, there were only 2 or 3 students who used to do their homework, and now only 2 or 3 students could be found who don’t do their homework. This ratio tells us a lot about the teaching technique of Tyler Hester. He mentions that students who don’t bring their homework are given extra attention after the classes and the teachers make sure that they don’t fall behind. In recent years, multiple studies have done on Teach for America, the two most recent studies conducted by University of North Carolina and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission on the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs of Teach for America, and it was found that Teach for America is the most effective teacher preparation.
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, around 66.3% students went to college after graduating in 2014. This is a good ratio, but not enough for a country like America. The main reason for students not getting into college is they lose their motivation to study after school. And Tyler Hester has taken the initiative to recreate that motivation among them so that their bright future would be ensured. He has made some basic rules to manage the class in a way that students always feel motivated and they never lose their enthusiasm for learning.
According to Tyler Hester the most important trait of a successful teacher is to love the students. If the students’ behaviour doesn’t meet your expectation, then stand firm against that rather than making them feel insulted. In here, Tyler quotes a line of Maya Angelou, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” If your students’ certain behaviour irritates you, then you should let them know about that in positive ways, which means finding out the best point of that behaviour and mention it along with the warning. Praising the students is the best way to keep them motivated and it helps them to try harder next time. Be precise about your expectation, and pay attention even to the minor mistakes so that they don’t turn into major mistakes. Tell your students about yourself, and make the story interesting. In this way, they will feel close to you as they will know about you a lot. Be as clear as you can about the lesson plans, and narrate the whole plan to the students. Overall, make your students feel like they can do it, and they will be happy to do it.
Tyler Hester is going ahead with his teaching with these standards. Watch the video and learn about this extraordinary teacher and his point of views.