Teacher

Teachers are carriers of either positive or negative behavior toward students. They carry a big responsibility in the classroom. Students depend on them and everything the teacher says will have an impact on the students. What the teachers feel or mood will be spread among students because the attitude of the teacher gets contagious. Teachers are responsible for the social behavior in the classroom. If something goes wrong the only responsible is the teacher because they can influence the student’s behavior and has the ability to create a good and warm environment suitable for learning. They are not just teachers to impart lessons to be learned from the topics in a syllabus but an inspiration and a guide affecting the emotional, intellectual, and social development of each student they encounter. As William Arthur Ward quoted, “The mediocre teacher tells.  The good teacher explains.  The superior teacher demonstrates.  The great teacher inspires.”teachers play a vital role in student’s life as they need to show respect, caring, become role models, make a pleasant environment, treat students right, instructs them but not be totalitarian, and guides them through the road of success. The only who gets the benefits are the students and sometimes it could be a negative or positive. Students often think of teachers as their surrogate parent in school. They depend much of them and the roles portrayed by the teacher greatly affects the learning environment of students. They have impact on student’s motivation to learn. In classroom setting, they are facilitators that direct student in learning. On this study, the research is guided by Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory wherein the teachers influence student’s learning and development. However, not all observed behaviors are effectively learned and in order for observational learning to be successful, you have to be motivated to imitate the behavior that has been modeled. Reinforcement and punishment play an important role in motivation. (Cherry, Kenda 2005). A finding has reported on the study “The Impact of Motivation on Student’s Academic Achievement and Learning Outcomes in Mathematics among Secondary School Students in Nigeria” that justifies the importance of motivation to academic performance where parents as well as the government should engage in programs that can motivate the students to improve their academic performance. Next to immediate family, teachers have the most impact on people’s lives. That’s just one of the key findings of a recent national survey of Americans’ attitudes toward teachers. The survey also found that: 88 percent of Americans say they had a teacher who had a “significant, positive impact” on their life; and 87 percent of respondents said they wish they had told their best teachers how much they appreciated their efforts. Among those who said a teacher who had a “significant, positive impact” on their life growing up, 83 percent said they had a teacher who helped build their confidence and self-esteem, 79 percent had a teacher who encouraged them to pursue their dreams, 75 percent said a teacher served as a mentor or role model and 54 percent said a teacher helped them through a tough time (ING Foundation, 2010).