8 things students expect from their teachers

I have been in the educational sector as a teacher for nearly 2 years now. I was originally trained as a civil engineer but just after I graduated from the university I began to discover my passion for teaching. It has been a fascinating journey for me. I have always asked my self one question, "what do my students expect from me?" I began to pay close attention to the way my students responded in my class and in those of other teachers. I also thought about what I expected from my teachers when I was in secondary school. I discovered that their desires were not much different from mine. If you want to be an effective teacher you must always put yourself in your students' shoes. If your not satisfying their expectations, you are not making impact but just wasting your time. This article tells you eight things your students expect from you;

• They want teachers who make the class interesting and fun                               children want to be in an environment that is fun and lively. They don't want to listen to a news caster or a clergy.  If I may ask, how many of you liked to listen to news or read news papers as children? I bet none of us did. You must seek ways to make you class more fun and engaging. 
• They want teachers who love their job                                                                  Do you love your job? If you don't, then don't expect to be an effective teacher. Students can tell when they see a teacher who wants to be with them. Passion is a must for every teacher who wants to make a mark in the lives of their students.
• They want a teacher who knows what he or she is doing                                     If you don't know what you are doing you will not be know for any good thing among the students. Students came to learn and they know those who they are actually learning from. Students expect you to know what they don't know.
• They want teachers who are caring                                                                        Though you need to know what you are doing, students place care above knowledge. In-fact they don't care how much you know until they know how much you care
• They want teachers who don't just lecture                                                            Your student expect you to tell stories that makes the topic more practical. Story telling separates teaching from lecturing
• They want a teacher who is respectful                                                                   Did I hear you say respectful? you may ask. Yes, respectful. Every one deserves some measure of respect, including children. What you give is what you get.
• They want to be noticed                                                                                           I teach in a class of over a hundred students. They all want me to call them by their name. what a high expectation. They don't mind, because each child believes that he or she is special. I believe the same
• They want teachers who believe in them                                                               Students will do almost any thing for a teacher who doesn't only see them as they are but also as they can be. Children gravitate towards those who they believe believe in them.

I make it my responsibility to match my student's expectation and you should to

Cab ride

A True Story by Kent Nerburn

Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living. It was a cowboy’s life, a life for someone who wanted no boss. What I didn’t realize was that it was also a ministry.

Because I drove the night shift, my cab became a confessional. Passengers climbed in, sat behind me in total anonymity, and told me about their lives. I encountered people whose lives amazed me, ennobled me, made me laugh and weep.

But none touched me more than a woman I picked up late one August night. I was responding to a call from a small brick four-plex in a quiet part of town.

I assumed I was being sent to pick up some partiers, or someone who had just had a fight with a lover, or a worker heading to an early shift at some factory for the industrial part of town. When I arrived at 2:30 a.m., the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window.

Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute, and then drive away. But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door. This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance, I reasoned to myself. So I walked to the door and knocked. “Just a minute”, answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor. After a long pause, the door opened.

A small woman in her 80s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knick-knacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

“Would you carry my bag out to the car?” she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, and then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb. She kept thanking me for my kindness. “It’s nothing”, I told her. “I just try to treat my passengers the way would want my mother treated”.

“Oh, you’re such a good boy,” she said.

When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, and then asked, “Could you drive through downtown?”

“It’s not the shortest way,” I answered quickly.

“Oh, I don’t mind,” she said. “I’m in no hurry. I’m on my way to a hospice.”

I looked in the rearview mirror. Her eyes were glistening. “I don’t have any family left,” she continued. “The doctor says I don’t have very long.”

I quietly reached over and shut off the meter. “What route would you like me to take?” I asked.

For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she’d ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing. As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, “I’m tired. Let’s go now.”

We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.

Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her.

I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

“How much do I owe you?” she asked, reaching into her purse.

“Nothing,” I said.

“You have to make a living,” she answered.

“There are other passengers,” I responded.

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. “You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,” she said, “Thank you.”

I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light. Behind me a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life.

I didn’t pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly, lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift?

What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?

On a quick review, I don’t think that I have done anything more important in my life. We’re conditioned to think that lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware – beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

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Weekend assignment

This is an assignment I gave to my students in class for the weekend. Someone should try to solve it and give me the answer.

It took 5 boys 8 days to plant 1200 trees on the school farm.
a) how long will it take 20 boy to plant the same number of trees.
b)how many day will it take the same number of boys to plant 4800 trees

FIVE FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN DEVELOPING YOUR UNIQUE GENIUS

Most often we see people excelling at their academics and conclude that they are geniuses. There are many first class graduates that are last class in life. More still are second class upper graduates but living in the lower class of society. We all have an equal opportunity to be as unequal as we want to be. Genius is attainable by any one at any time in their life. There are so many who were ones considered dummies, who by their choice to excel became better at solving problems and thus discovered five powerful ways to express their hidden genius. 

A genius is an exceptionally intelligent person or one with exceptional skill in a particular area of activity. Are genius born or made has been a question many have asked for a long time. I will not claim to have the answer to that question but what I know is this; so many have moved from the class of dummies into the class of genius and so can you. Dr Ben Carson is a notable example. Let us consider the five factors

• Know yourself and why your here: Genius involves figuring out who you are, and owning yourself. Its about amplifying your best traits and compensating for the rest. There are billions of people in the world today, a few are succeeding exceptionally while a vast majority are failing miserably. What is the difference between success and failure? Is it based on parental background, community, government or church? In as much as all these factors influence people's level of success, many have succeeded despite disadvantaged backgrounds. There is a reason you are here. You are not here to do every thing, you are here on a specific assignment. You were created on purpose for a purpose. "We all have a part to play in life and all you can do is play it", Basam in the movie Tyrant". It is your responsibility to discover it. You can not display genius outside your purpose. I feel most alive when I teach because that is my purpose. Let me ask you a question? If money was not a factor what will you love to be doing right now. When you locate it, the world will locate you
• Discover your hidden abilities: Abilities are given to fulfill purpose. Birds fly, fishes swim. Water has the ability to quench the need for liquid in the body acid doesn't. I love teaching and the ability to compose and transmit information (communicate) comes naturally. Its the easiest thing I do. I studied civil engineering at the university, how ever I have little or no interest in construction. The best I could have been as an engineer would be a local champion, but watch out where am going as a communicator. Can I tell you something? What you were taught in school will not make you great except it is tailored towards your purpose. You want to stand out? Stand on the abilities that come naturally to you. 
• Focus on your purpose: Greatness comes at a cost and that cost is focus. "this one thing I do" said Paul the Apostle, not 10 things. He that is every where is nowhere. The energy from the sun can cause a paper to burn when its rays are focused through a convex lens. Focus causes you to be on fire and when you are on fire people will love to come and see you burn. You have to focus on your assignment to make impact in life. Be focused and you will drill your pure genus from the core of your being.
• Persistence: If you want to be a genius you must persist and insist. Genius does not come overnight. No classic is created overnight. That is one difference between other Hoods and Hollywood. John Maxwell, one of my mentors as a communicator said that in one of his leadership classes a man walked up to him to appreciate him for the insight he had given them This gentle man went further to say that he wished he had heard the leadership genius 20 years earlier. To that statement John replied, "You wouldn't have wanted to hear me 20 years ago". What made the difference between who he was 20 year before and who he was at the time they talked? Persistence. Persistence converts the freedom to be a mediocre to an opportunity to enlist yourself among the high flyers. There is a reservoir of genius in you, persist until the world sees it.
• Learn from the best: Successful people are those that are willing to learn from successful people who have gone on the journey of success before them. Isaac Newton a genius in every sense quipped, "If I could see any further than others, it was because I stood on the shoulders of giants". You can only learn the best from the best. Who are you learning from? One of the ways I learn from the best is through their books. I have never met John Maxwell but there are just few of his books I don't have and haven't read. You see the wisdom radiating from a man's mind can be reflected to your mind through the pages of his books. The number one book to read, however is the bible because it is the word of the best of the best, God himself.

Genius awaits you, take responsibility and become who you were created to be.

Thank God its a new day

Thank God its a new day

After a wonderful church service last night, I slept some minutes before midnight. This morning am up again to the glory of God. A new day has come for me, a day of new opportunities and challenges. I have to make this day count. Am older today than I was yesterday. 

This morning I will be going to teach my students in school. I thank God for the privilege of being a teacher. Being a tool for impacting lives and destinies of people both directly and indirectly. Lets ask our selves this morning, how we can express our gratitude for the life we live. I believe we have to make some one say thank God today because he/she met up this day. Let us go out the and be the helping hands of God, His loving eyes and smile, His encouraging words and His faithfulness. Let God love someone through us today. This day is my best day yet.

LET ME GIVE

LET ME GIVE

~Author Unknown~ 


I do not know how long I'll live
But while I live, Lord, let me give
Some comfort to someone in need
By smile or nod, kind word or deed.

And let me do what 'ere I can
To ease things for my fellow man.
I want naught but to do my part
to lift a tired or weary heart.

To change folks' frowns to smiles again.
Then will I not have lived in vain.
And I'll not care how long I'll live
If I can give... and give... and give.

The world minus just one person is full of others. We are all on this journey called life, make some body's travel more exciting. 

3 Reasons You Must Be Happy if You Want to Attract Success and How You Can Do it

3 Reasons You Must Be Happy if You Want to Attract Success and How You Can Do it

Have you ever thought of happiness as an asset? Even the best of accountant will most likely not include it as one. Your Happiness is the most valuable asset you have. With it success is sure but without it success is but an illusion. Yesterday, I went to repair my computer at a very busy spot in my city Portharcourt. I was there about an hour before the repairer came. While waiting for his arrival, I witnessed countless persons in a hurry towards where they earn something in order to be Just above broke. Some would have preferred that I called it a job. A few looked excited, others showed know emotion, while a vast majority looked as tough they had just been given a life sentence. I thought to my self, surely these persons will not perform at the same level. I thought to my self, if i had the opportunity to give a piece of advice to these fellows what would I have said? If I had the opportunity to have a one on one with them this is what I would have said; 

Me: Hello, my name is Charles 

Fellow: My name is "I love this post"

Me: I bet you want to be successful?

Fellow: Yes I certainly do

Me: If you want to be successful you must be HAPPY

Fellow: How does my happiness affect my success?  

Me: These are the 3 reason you must be happy if you want to be successful

• People are attracted to happy people: No one not even a little baby want to look straight into an unhappy face. No one succeeds without other people. One is too small a number to achieve greatness. The more you have the right people around you who have been attracted by the happiness radiating from you, the faster you attract success. John Wesley said, "when you set your self on fire, people will love to come and see you burn". Don't try this at home. But when you are burning with the fire of happiness people will love to come and see you burn.
• Happiness fosters good health: The writer of proverbs who said that "a merry heart does good like medicine". Lack of happiness has resulted in some chronic disease like cancer, diabetic and high blood pressure. When any person is buoyant in his health surely his drive for success will be limited. 
• You readily help others: Unhappy people are too focused on themselves to see and attend to the need of others. Solving need of others increases your value and influence in their lives and will ultimately qualify you for the opportunities for success.

Fellow: How do i experience Happiness?

Me: Do the following

• Make the choice to be happy: You, not events, have the power to make yourself happy or unhappy. If you want to be happy, be.
• Make some one else happy: You don't get happiness by going in search of it, you get it by giving out to others. Those that sow happiness in tears shall reap in happiness in joy.
• Make you dwelling among the happy: Happiness is air borne, a happy environment is contagious. Being a kids teacher in church had made to understand this for a fact. Children are ever happy. Its impossible to be surrounded by children and be depressed. 

You can like my facebook page for more awesome posts at facebook.com/agbanicharles

Me: HAVE A HAPPY LIFE AHEAD