In this post, I am going to break the rules, as I am supposed to write about my own experience and progress at Humber College, Web Development Program, as I usually do, but this time I would like to share my success and experience in my job as a computer instructor at COSTI Immigrant Services. So, I would like to change my topic and article for this post only and go back to continue my blog about Humber College next week.

Yesterday was the last day for my fourth cycle of teaching at COSTI, ELT program. Although I usually receive a positive feedback from most of my students, this time I received also a handmade thank you card made by one of the students and signed with nice words from them. It was a surprise and a great pleasure to me at that moment when I received the card with appreciation from everyone.

I am not the best teacher or that smartest person, even English is not my first language, but I do like my job, teach with passion, care about each student in my class, and in spite of that I feel confident about what I teach and how to teach to make everyone active, energetic and involved in the class, including the students who have basic and more advanced skills. Although I am not teaching rocket science and my students’ number don’t exceed 20 or 25 maximum, but I believe that “Whatever you teach, teaching is a talent”, and that’s a very crucial and important thing that employers who are responsible for hiring teachers or instructors should understand and consider. Having a professional and experienced instructor is not enough if that instructor cannot convey their message easily to all the students or make them understand what they teach even if the students are from different levels, background or experience.

As a student, I don’t care if I have a professional developer or programmer such as Bill Gates teaching me (just an example) if he/she can’t deliver or express what they know or choose the right materials for the course. That kind of person could be a very successful developer in one of the most advanced IT companies but a miserable instructor in any school at the same time, yes it’s true. Unprofessional instructor in any field can kill the passion of learning for learners, stop their progress, and reduce their achievements.

Through my experience of teaching, I also received constructive criticism from different students, these criticisms have helped me to improve my personal skills, learn to how to deliver my subjects, and understand how to choose the right curriculums, handouts or textbooks that make the time or the money the student spend really worthy. In my experience in Canada as a computer instructor, I have had some meetings with my managers to discuss some of the students’ feedback to overcome any obstacle standing between me and my students.

Anyway, life is a nonstop learning process and I like to learn from my mistakes as anyone does, building a good rapport with the students by understanding their needs individually, is not an easy task, but the word “Thanks, I learned a lot from your classes” gives me the motivation to keep going and move on with the same enthusiasm.