I want to share this metaphor that has been running in my head for quite some time.
On my first year of teaching, I learned that students somehow resembles the characteristics of a sand.
You can hold the sand with your hands but if you grasp it too tight, the sand will slowly escape from your hands. The same with the students. You can be a very strict teacher, but there will come a point where you will realize that they are complying to you just because they are afraid to be scolded. I remember there was a time when I was still a student, where my knees almost shiver because of this teacher who was very strict in our class, she even made most of my classmates cry.
Or you can just hold the sand lightly, but later on, the air will try to vanish the sand from your hands. Thus, if you will just let the students do things their way, they will take advantage of that privilege. Later on, they will be undisciplined and disrespectful.
But the good thing about students being like the sand --- is that you, as a teacher, can be someone who will walk into their lives and leave footprints.
Those footprints signify your mark as a teacher who never holds her student tightly nor lightly. A teacher who always ensure that everytime she walks into the classroom, learning happens.
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