Guidelines for the Aspiring Male Teacher

As a male teacher, I have to be more careful when I’m teaching, in order to protect myself. It’s not fair, but it’s reality. Especially when it comes to dealing with children, as I have for the last few years. I can’t change it, but I have been able to work my way around it. So, allow me to share my experienced suggestions with any of the men out there who are aspiring to become teachers (bear in mind, I am not claiming to be an expert on any level):

• Never pay a compliment to a woman’s or a girl’s appearance. It’s far safer if you appreciate their attractiveness inside your head, because no one can file sexual harassment suits over unspoken thoughts. Plus, there are girls and women that will take the compliment too seriously, and that can only end with hurt feelings and broken relationships. Understand that there is a difference between thinking someone is attractive and being attracted to someone; it’s perfectly normal to think a student or co-worker is attractive, but if you find that you are ever attracted to the former, you should be in a different profession. And possibly seek counseling, because these are children and minors we’re talking about.

• Never give a student more attention than another student. This goes for any teacher, really, but especially men, because there is a stigma throughout this nation that a man who takes an interest in a student must have ulterior motives. There’s no escaping this stigma, and it’s not going to change anytime soon.

• Give physical instructions carefully. For example: if you are doing a physical activity, as a group, and part of one or more of the actions in this activity require students to spread their legs, you should never, as a man, instruct the students to spread their legs; you should, instead, instruct them to spread their feet. It’s far more harmless a wording of the instruction. Keep any phrasing similar to this as benign as you can.

• Be firm when managing a classroom, but never express irritation or anger. Again, this applies to all teachers, but men tend to have a more dominating presence than women, in general. It’s the combination of a larger stature and a deeper voice. Women can be very intimidating when managing a classroom, and it’s even more effective, but this is because when a woman expresses irritation or anger to a classroom, it comes off as corrective. If a man were to show the same emotions, it would come off as threatening. Avoid ever appearing threatening.

• Be exceptionally encouraging. The maternal qualities of women translate directly into a teaching role, making them very nurturing without much further effort than their instincts will provide. This is not the same for men. We men have to pay attention to how encouraging our language is, because when we correct the mistakes of students, there seems to be an attitude of hopelessness from the students we correct, which will lead to apathy. Therefore, we need to be very encouraging with what we say, even if the student is incorrect.

• Use the position of authority to the students’ advantage. Never discipline a student or a group of students for their sake, or yours. Your indignation should be righteous, and the people you should be protecting or defending are the students who need it (i.e. those on task, ready to learn, intently trying to listen, etc.) If you are trying to manage a classroom with the attitude that you need to be in control only because you are the authority figure, you are doing nothing for the students. In fact, you are strangling their ability to learn, and literally stunting their personal growth. This, also, goes for all teachers, but men have to be far more conscious of this attitude, because it is, sadly, in our nature to feel entitled to more than the limited authority we are given.

• Don’t be the expert, regardless of the grade or age of your class. You cannot approach the world of teaching with the attitude that you are the expert, which is a natural tendency of men. Everyone you’re teaching is not some empty shell of a human. They each have their own thoughts, their own understanding and their own learning abilities, as well as disabilities. You are a vessel for their learning, and a facilitator to their understanding. Your own education and knowledge are just reservoirs from which to draw necessary information, not destroy and drown what sproutlings may already exist within the students' minds.

Finally, be observant of other teachers, and even certain students. Believe it or not, you don’t know more than everyone, and you aren’t God’s gift to the students and faculty. Women tend to be better teachers because their egos are generally in check. We can, as men, achieve at least a piece of this quality, and it will serve us in our teaching, but more importantly it will serve the students we teach.