Authenticity

Fortunately or unfortunately, students are quick to perceive their instructors true feelings and opinions on a subject or in a situation. This makes the genuineness of one's authenticity quintessential in an educational setting.

“How do you know where your limits are for expressing authenticity?”

The answer requires honesty with oneself. People have to do a self-evaluation and ask the question: "How do I react when someone says something I do not agree with?” Some people may frown, give a sarcastic or facetious remark, ignore the comment entirely, or even change the subject. Regardless of the self-evaluated reaction, teachers have to actually do something with this new information. Teachers then need to become aware of how often they make this reaction. If they only make the reaction when students say or do something that requires a teacher’s attention and possible reprimand, then I would say you have a good balance. However, if a teacher has no patience and provides a negative reaction for everything students say, do, or ask, then that teacher needs to re-evaluate the limits of their authenticity.

“How do students tell if a teacher is not authentic?”

Students are quite aware of their teachers’ actions and reactions. Sarcasm, excessive praise, inconsideration towards learning, ignoring certain types of questions or remarks, complete lack of enthusiasm, no care for standards, and body language (i.e. glares, stares, facial expressions, crossed arms, hands on hips, sighs etc) are all among the countless other little tics that easily give away whether a teacher is being authentic or not. Putting up a façade is not a good way to hide one being inauthentic. I have found that many students know when their teacher is being fake.

If a teacher is seen as being fake or inauthentic, I strongly believe that learning slows or even shuts down. One of the biggest factors of this has to do with the lack of enthusiasm the teacher is showing. This causes a lack of motivation among students. Only a few students will truly be enthusiastic about something that their teacher shows absolutely no enthusiasm for at all.

Despite all this, I think it is important to remember that the idea of educators becoming masters of putting up facades is not a good technique for showing authenticity. Instead, I would argue that instructors have to be honest with their opinions but remember to always be professional and politically correct. Sometimes the best reaction is no reaction at all.