Power of a Teacher's Speech

Introduction

Ladies and gentlemen, I am glad to have this opportunity to address you today. I want to begin by taking you back to your childhood days. Can you recall a few of the words that particular teachers told you? What did they make you feel around your teachers? Did you feel safe, motivated to learn? Or did you feel insecure, Self-doubting, or irritated? Generally, how did you feel? And how did such feelings make you view school? How did they shape you into what you are today? I believe that most, if not all, of you, became teachers by choice. The impact of a teacher's words is one of the most powerful on a child's growth and development.

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Ladies and gentlemen, we all know that a teacher cannot do without words in the teaching and learning process. This explains why the most powerful tool in teaching is what you say to your students and the way you say it. I used to get D's and F's in high school. I remember one day, my mathematics teacher came up to me and asked me "James*, did you know that you can make an excellent professor of mathematics?" I just laughed the idea off because I wondered how a D material could end up as a professor. However, she continued that all that potential was locked within me and it was my onus to unlock it. I began looking at the subject in a new way and, believe it or not, my journey to excellence had just begun. I was surprised to score an A in the subject in the next exam. With an A in math, I became more confident in my studies and this enabled me to pass all my other subjects as well.

Ladies and gentlemen, a teacher's language have the ability to make their students trust or mistrust them. A teacher is seen as a protector. In fact, little children view the teacher as a superior being who has answers to all the mysteries of life. Many would trust them more than they would their parents. However, if this trust is broken, it is very difficult to mend it. I remember a nasty incident that happened when I was in high school. I was chewing gum during the English class and, unfortunately, my teacher noticed it. She sarcastically said that there was a cow in the class. Everyone, shocked, started looking for the cow. The teacher then said that one of the animals that often chew cud is a cow and that there was someone chewing cud in class. She then told me to stand and show the class what kind of a cow I was. I felt so embarrassed, and every time I saw the teacher, I imagined that she only saw a cow in me. I could not trust her to protect me from the jibes and taunts I got from the others after this incident. That is how I ended up scoring an F in her subject.

Lastly, ladies and gentlemen, the words that we use often portray who we are and what we stand for. We cannot claim to stand for truth and justice when our words mean the opposite. A teacher who claims to treat all students equally must do so without making some look more equal than others. When my high school teacher told me that she liked the grades that my classmate Thomas always got, I did not have to wait for her explanation about what she meant but I knew she detested my performance. I felt dejected for being compared to another student who seemed superior simply because of his performance yet I could be better than him in other subjects. Therefore, the use of preferential language has a powerful impact on various individuals.

Conclusion

In conclusion der ladies and gentlemen, you will agree with me that there is nothing that can bend the cruel and conventional follies imposed on any society but the power of a teacher's speech. The teacher's words have the capacity to make or break. They can either create the best out of an individual or annihilate them to their very core. Words can deflect the most lethal poison, repel the fastest bullet and even ricochet the most sarcastic speech. Therefore, let us always select the words we use cautiously.