When I first read today's contest topic in the community, I didn't get the immediate response my brain always gives to me whenever I read a topic that I could relate to, instead I found myself thinking about my lecturer back when I was in the university, who taught us History (known as citizenship over here in Nigeria).
Recently I've been thinking about going for my National Youth Service, a one year program where I get posted anywhere in the country by the government to go work, and I've been asking myself how I would cope if I was posted to a school to teach.
Each time I think about the kind of teacher I would love to be, I always end up thinking about that history teacher. If I remember correctly, that lecturer's class was the one class we always made sure not to miss, even though everything about that class was a reason to miss it, starting from the time of the lecture.
It was an 8am class, given to a lecturer who made sure he was always punctual and never allowed any student to go in after him. So what that meant was that the moment he walked into the class, anyone standing outside was late, and it didn't matter to him if you were already in class but stepped out to go do something.
And yet, instead of looking for somewhere comfortable to go relax until he was done with his class, you would see students standing at the window and door of the classroom, paying attention to everything he was saying, while also taking notes.
It wasn't exactly because he was a good lecturer (he was but that wasn't it), it was because he was a good story teller. This man would talk about the history of Nigeria like you were seeing a movie. He was very detailed with his stories, that we all could see clear images of the people he was talking about in our head.
His classes were so entertaining, fun and stressful at the same time because he was very fast when dictating his notes, and a lot of people always gave up along the way.
He was the perfect blend of a teacher, strict when he needed to be and yet very very fun to be with. No doubt he was everyone's favorite lecturer for that semester and I'm sure we had all hoped for him to continue lecturing us the next semester.
That is the kind of teacher I would love to be, one that makes his students want to come to school and learn. A very good story teller.