Oona Tikkaoja // May 2004
I think that my main task as a teacher is to create opportunities for positive learning experiences in which it is possible to reinforce the learner's feeling of ability and achievement. Learning is dependent on, for example, a person's concepts of his/herself, motivation and the classroom atmosphere. I definitely can't do the learning for the students but I can organize the working to support the student's construction of positive concepts about him/herself. I believe that when a student relys on his/her abilities, he/she can learn almost anything. Thus, to my mind, the positive feeling towards learning and the topic should be aroused at the first place. That's why I think the most important feature of a good teacher is to be very wise socially. Of course, he/she has to know also the topic, but nowadays, when the information is changing all the time, I think that the skills to motivate and create positive atmospheres are the most important. I try hard to work along this principle and I hope that I will someday reach my ideal as a teacher, who can really charge the learning occasions with positive energy.