New teachers at a school need to know a bit about the culture of the school and what the students define as a “great teacher.” What should the “new teacher starter kit” have in it? What does a teacher really need to survive?
There are a lot of different reasons why new teachers could struggle. In 2024, some common struggles were:
What do students think a teacher needs to know or have to be successful at ICSA?
Most people say that a good quality in a teacher is effective skills in communicating and listening. More recently, collaboration is also an important aspect to the lives of students. Teachers need to understand students and get to know them in and outside the classroom. Patience is also very important for student learning.
What Do The Students of ICSA Think?
Students of ICSA were asked what they think about the topic of new teachers. In an interview with the student council president, Yasmeen Balogun, she mentioned:
“As someone who has been at ICSA for like 11 years, someone who you know went through middle school, someone who’s starting IB; almost halfway, I would say patience is so important, like we are all learning at different levels.”
It wasn’t only her that was asked “what makes a good teacher?” We also asked other students this question, patience was the most valued and important aspect to them.
Being able to have a patient teacher is so important and has a lot of positives aspects. Patience in teachers builds student teacher relationships and leads to higher success rates in students.
Yasmeen also stated that some people have disabilities, whether they are dyslexic or experience other learning difficulties, teachers should understand their learning abilities and use their 80 minutes to be calm and patient with students in need. Yasmeen states that this is the best way to educate a class.
“When I think of patience, a teacher that immediately comes to my mind is Mr. Namory.”
-Yasmeen Balogun, Grade 11
Many of our students know many languages, and non-native English speakers might need more time to process information. Language barriers and different cultures can be extremely difficult. This school is very different from others I will be talking about later, but these differences can increase difficulty. Every single person is different and therefore every teacher is different. This is why it is difficult for new teachers to adapt.
What are the hardships of being a new teacher at ICSA?
As we all know, ICSA is unique, and can be quite different from the ones that most teachers have worked at. Sometimes that change can be difficult for some new teachers to handle.
“ ICSA- we’re going through so much change, like we’re literally renovating our school right now in the middle of classes. We’ve just come up with our core values… I just think adapting is going be the hardest part.” Yasmeen Balogun.
ICSA is an extremely diverse and adaptive school, for the students that have been here for more than 5 years have probably witnessed massive changes.
This, alone, can be different from other schools. Our student inititated core values of are the factors that keep this school positive, because people are realizing that these values are actually important to a student’s learning and overall well being.
Matching these core values, students want to see courageous, compassionate, and curious teachers, because they have to exhibit these traits if they want us to, as well.
“ I’d say adapting to the environment because even though they’re flexible, there’s so much diversity in ICSA that even for me as a student when i came in 6th grade it was so hard because there were so many different cultures”
Yasmeen Balogun, Grade 11
Is ICSA really that different from other schools?
“Yes 100%, not just in Ivory Coast but everywhere i mean just look at how much diversity we have like how many nationalities we have like lots of schools don’t have that,” Balogun states in the interview.
ICSA has over 85 nationalities. This is more than almost every school in the US and we have been open for more than 51 years. This can just begin to tell people how much change that has happened.
ICSA was started in 1972 and began with humble beginnings. It was originally set in villas around Cocody and Deux Plateau. In fact it was only until 1989 that ICSA moved to Riviera III and got purpose built facilities.
“I think our school, like we’ve really struggled, we’ve really gone through it. We’re so open to change now… I mean we’re even becoming an eco-friendly school” Yasmeen Balogun.
I think before (a few years ago) ICSA was very different from other schools but maybe not in such a good way. Now with all the changes we are going through I think we are starting to see change in a positive way.
What can we as students do to make the school a better place?
Mr. Pontius is being replaced after this year sadly, then there will be a new principle and all of the things that were stated above could be a really good contribution to what kind of teachers students need. This is the voice of all the students!
Leaders in the student council are the students that can change this school for the better. We are the future and we need to fight for what we need and believe. As stated before ICSA is growing so much as a school and the amount of positive change we have seen is impeccable. With this new principle we can make even more change! This is why I have interviewed the student council leaders such as Grace Massoebi and Yasmeen Balogun. They are the ones that can take action, and knowing that their opinions might make the school a better place is a good thing to know.
We all know that we have struggled over the years in ICSA but new teachers are a fresh start to the school and it is our job as student’s t make learning more efficient, because who else is going to do it?
We can:
- Keep a clean and welcoming environment.
- Be positive and friendly towards your teachers and/or new students.
- Participate in school activities.
If teachers know you are nice and you are open for changes and new people they will feel safer and welcomed into the school.
Supportive Teachers is a Common Want
Having unsupportive teachers can lead to a lot of downfalls for a student. Students can end up not being interested in the class, having a lack of trust in the teacher, and it makes it harder for students to learn. If a teacher is unsupportive it means that the student can’t get enough help.
Students then become uninterested because they don’t understand. Even though a student could self study It has a psychological effect that makes a student think they “can’t do it”.
Other Causes of unsupportive teachers can be:
- Lack of motivation
- Reduced confidence
- Classroom disengagement
- Lower academic achievement.
“ Id say for students here in ICSA, we need a lot of support from teachers. We need them to be nice … and not harsh to the extent that it makes us dislike the class. I’ve realized about students in ICSA that once a student doesn’t like a class they don’t feel motivated to do the work.”
Grace Bandaman, Grade 11
Grace is one of the student council leader that has been here since 6th grade and now is in 11th (IB).
This further tells us how important it is for a teacher to be supportive, many students need a lot of help and it goes without saying that we have a diverse range of students that do need help.
We wish all of the new teachers entering our community a great start to next year, and welcome to the ICSA community.
