Letter to Miss Caroline

Dear Miss Caroline,
I am honored you have requested my advice in your teaching crisis. Educating children can be difficult, but rewarding. You must have patience and determination. You were a very bright student in my class, and I know you will be an excellent teacher. I will pass on some advice to you that I learned years ago when I was just starting out.

In order to be successful, you need patience. If you have a short temper with your students, they will come to resent you and your lessons. You must try to be understanding and fair.

Do not get discouraged if your students are different from you. You have to understand where they're coming from. If they have foul living conditions, do not be upset if they are unkempt. If they are poor, do not scold their eating habits or clothing choices.

It is a mistake to teach only the less advantaged students. You must teach the entire class. The advanced students should be assigned more challenging work, so they can reach their full potential. A teacher's job is to inspire the love of learning in your students. You should encourage your students to be the best they can be.

There will always be a few troublemakers in the classroom. You can try and reform them, but if that task is too difficult, it will be necessary to remove them. Some will purposefully try to disrupt the class. You must have a firm hand and not show a weakness to those that will try to take power out of your hand.

Teaching is a rewarding job, and I know you will prosper as an educator. It may take time, but I know you will be a superb teacher who will bring honor to Maycomb County's school system. If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to write again to me. Thank you and good luck.

Sincerely,
Professor Erin G.

Dear Caroline,

I have just received your letter, and I wanted to tell you how gratifying it is that you have chosen me for your source of teaching advice. It is also quite refreshing to see that a young lady such as yourself has swallowed her pride and asked for help when needed.

Through my many years of teaching I have discovered that young people understand things that many adults have forgotten. They fully understand the importance of sharing, apologizing for mistakes, seeing through another's differences, and the significance of honesty and forgiveness. At times, I feel as though elders, as wise as we believe we are, neglect the simple things needed for a contented life and concentrate simply on personal gain. To truly be a good teacher of young children you must try and place yourself in their miniature shoes. Try to recall, as difficult as it may seem, what you were like at the age of six or seven. Also, these children have a had a very different upbringing than you did. Make it a goal to determine what the values of the children's families are. You may want to try to schedule meetings with the parents of your pupils. If there is not a strong sense of tolerance within your classroom walls, there will be no way to communicate with your youthful scholars.

Finally, remember why we have teachers and education in the first place. Not only are we to prepare our children for the future, but also we must help them discover the joys of living. Life is a constant learning experience. We, as teachers, must instill the desire and hunger for learning. This is the first year of schooling for your students. If you don't teach them how to read "cat" or "dog" or how to scrawl their name of pieces of paper, you have not failed. As long as you make school an enjoyable place and not a torture chamber you will have become a very fine teacher, indeed.

Sincerely,
Professor Emily M.

Dear Caroline,
I received your letter, and I understand that you are experiencing some difficulties in teaching your first graders. Since you have requested my advice, I will be more than willing to give it to you. I hope you will find my ideas useful.

First and foremost, you must take control of the class and establish a set of guidelines to be followed by everyone. You must show your class that you are at school to teach, and they are there to learn. If you don't show that you have rules and are going to enforce those rule, the class will take advantage of you. Taking control is the first step, and it is not an easy one, but you must persevere, and stay firm and focused.

Once you get control, you have to ask yourself these questions: 'What do my first graders need to know by the end of the year?'" and 'What am I going to need to do to teach all of these things to my class in an inspiring and stimulating way?" These questions are very important, and they will lead you to set goals for yourself and your pupils.

Setting a goal is just as important as seeing one through, and you need to really think about what your goals should be. Remembering that it is your first year, your goals should be simple, but still be specific. For example, one goal might be to teach every student the alphabet. Some students may already know the alphabet and not need as much instruction as the students who don't know it. But it is those students who don't know it, that are going to benefit from your teachings the most. By first teaching simple and basic ideas, you can later start to elaborate on your lessons, and really begin to connect with your students. You must remain open to all people and ideas because, remembering that you are in a different environment from what you are used to, you need to learn about the students' lives in Maycomb. This will truly help you in reaching the pupils.

I hope that I have been of some help to you and that my advice will be useful, leading to a successful remainder of your first year teaching. I wish the best of luck to you and your students, and I hope everything works out to your own and your class's benefit.

Cordially,
Professor Kevin G.

Dear Caroline,
It's so nice to hear from you! I never knew I had such an impact on my students. It's a great feeling to know my teaching really worked. I'm glad you decided to write me regarding your own teaching problems; it's an honor for you to have thought of me. So, let me recap what you've told me in your letter. You're having problems with your first graders that you never came across in your preparation for teaching. Heading into a new field is always a difficult task but I know you, and I believe you can do it. Fortunately, you have me, someone who's already been through all the worries and problems of teaching, to tell you the do's and the don'ts. So let me give you a few handy hints.

Granted that you may not think so, but in the world of teaching, the teachers themselves can also learn a few things. For instance, when I first started teaching, my students practically destroyed me; they found all my weaknesses and attacked me. That was my first mistake, and probably yours too. You should never show your fear. No matter what age you're teaching, you have to make sure you stay the boss. You must also give it time. If within a few weeks things don't improve, try to change your teaching style a bit. Look at your method of teaching from their perspective. Ask yourself if when you were their age, you would've enjoyed the class. Beyond that, confront your students. Ask them up front what they think of you and see what you may be doing wrong. Give these thoughts a try and if they don't work, be creative. Use a little reverse psychology; that always works. Hope you keep in touch.

Sincerely yours,
Professor Gould

EMAIL

To read more student work go to Student Authors or go back to Ms. Smith's English Page

URL= http://home.earthlink.net/~jesmith