Teachers!!

"GURU BRAHMA, GURU VISHNU, GURU DEVO MAHESHWARA.
GURU SHAKSHAT PARABRAHMA, TASMAYESHREE GURUVENAMAH."

In the modern scenario, the role of teachers has been changing due to the pressure of social and economic transformation. The society expects leadership from the teachers in the task of making education an effective instrument of nation building.
A teacher has not only to instruct but also to inspire the students; he or she has to influence the life and character of his or her students, and equip them with ideas and values which will equip them to enter the stream of national life as worthy citizens.
Teachers have been regarded as the instruments of new educational policy and action programme to develop in students, good character, national awareness, democratic values, loyalty and dedicated social responsibility. It is here that a teacher’s national responsibility finds expression.
The role of a teacher is to shape the minds of the younger generation. To strengthen our democracy, teachers must instill into the students ancient cultural spirit of tolerance of different opinions and viewpoints, and acquaint them with the modern wisdom expressed in Voltaire’s dictum: “I do not accept what you say; but I will defend with my life your right to say so.”
Today, the teachers have to concern himself with the total development of the child and not only with one or two aspects. He must be a philosopher illuminating the way of his intellectual and spiritual progress; he must be his guide in his moral and aesthetic advancement.
The success of students depends essentially upon the competence of the teachers, their sense of dedication and their identification with the interests of the students committed to their care.
The teacher is not a dispenser of knowledge only. It is more important for him to initiate his students into the art of learning by helping them acquire the right mental attitude and learning habit. Thus, the teacher’s role is changing. He should also spend more time diagnosing the learner’s needs, motivating and encouraging his students and checking the knowledge acquired.
The teacher is now expected not only to inculcate knowledge but also to encourage thinking. He has to become more of an advisor, a partner to talk to. He has to help seek out conflicting arguments rather than hand out readymade truths. For this, he will have to devote more time and energy to productive and creative activities.
To play this role effectively, the teacher faces a greater challenge today than at any time in history.
Teachers are being challenged to utilize new approaches and methods in an effort to improve learning outcomes.
The teacher of the future will be expected to perform the roles of planned organizer of curricula, innovator of educational ideas, practices and systems, writer of TV and radio lessons and programmes, resource personnel in the propagation of ever expanding knowledge, adept in the preparation of programmed texts, and motivator of learners in many creative, unconventional ways.
The role of teacher in modern society has proved an inexhaustible subject for inaugural lectures. There are virtually no empirical studies of the contemporary role of teachers.
Today, the teacher arrives at a conception of his proper or necessary role through his own experience as a pupil, his experience at the job, his reading, exchange of views and reflection and of course his professional training.
Strange as it may seem, it is a act that so far, practically, systematically, specifically, no effort has been made to study the role of teacher as envisaged by educational philosophers.


Woods thinks that the most obvious way for teachers to build character in their students is by becoming good role models themselves: "Practice what you preach. Look at yourself objectively, and try to improve on an individual basis," he says. "It is through this catharsis that true and lasting changes occur in the individual. Coming from this truth, educators and teachers will find that the ability to start something and develop positive core values in their students will be a relatively easy task."


An investment in developing the character of children is an investment in the future.


Character Education in the Classroom examines the role of educators in developing moral and ethical behavior in students by assisting teachers in defining and identifying character traits that would be important in their school. Character education has become a very popular theme in education since the 1990’s because of the increase of violence in schools, discipline concerns, and a national call to action for character education.

Students need to develop positive character attributes and appropriate behaviors in order to achieve high standards in school and be good citizens as adults. In recent years, however, many schools have moved away from programs that deal with behavioral issues

Teachers are an important source of social influence for students. Social influence is based primarily on the style of interacting that occurs every day, both in and out of the classroom