During her third year in college, when she was deciding which career choice to take, she knew she wanted a job that brought out the best in her and what she can do for the rest of her life. She also wanted a job that involved using English and related to basketball, which were her favorite subject and sport. And, most importantly, she wanted a job where she could pay forward or contribute the specific ethos she learned to society. Reflecting on her experience and her personal growth, Fujita felt appreciation for the Soka school environment that was nurtured and fostered by the founder, the students, and the teachers. She realized that the Soka school shaped her to be who she is today. She had an affirmation that, “This is what it means to teach.” This led her to seek teaching as her career. She also knew she could fulfill her goals of using English and basketball if she became a junior high school teacher. She felt teaching was a noble career because it involves fostering of human beings. Teaching was her way of repaying her appreciation for the education and experience she received at the Soka schools.
Now, teaching at a public middle school, Fujita teaches first and second year students [7th and 8th graders]. She has an easier time teaching first years because she teaches them from the beginning when they enter middle school. However, second years tend to be more delinquent.
studying for some other subject or reading a comic book. Many of the students think they can do whatever they want. There are also students who are struggling with learning English. She has 40 students so the student-teacher ratio is high, making it difficult to cultivate relationships. Thus, Fujita tries to build a relationship of trust with her students. She also makes effort to teach lessons that are easy to follow. She does this by making clear goals and creating small hurdles for the students to overcome. For example, she provides smaller and easier quizzes so that students can understand. In the classroom, she walks around the classroom and interacts with the students as much as possible. When she gives students work to do, she tries to stand next to the students and give them individual attention. When she does this, she could feel the students’ desire to want to learn and seek attention. Outside of the classroom, she tries to connect with her students during breaks, after school, or through club activities. By spending time with the students, she hopes that students feel acknowledged.
In addition to being an English teacher and a basketball coach for the school team, Fujita also has another hat to wear as the dean in charge of student discipline. As the dean, she has a difficult role to discipline and have serious conversations with students about their misconduct. Fujita explains that middle school is a difficult time for students; they often cause trouble on the surface level. Therefore, rather than seeing the negative traits of the various students she interacts with, she tries to focus on students’ positive traits that show potential for growth.
As a teacher, there’s responsibility for teaching subject matter or doing our best in our roles as advisors or coaches. But, what’s most important is whether the teacher has faith in the students and has a commitment to foster their students. We only have at the most three years with our students so I think it’s important that teachers are committed to fostering their students during that limited time.
Fujita sees moments when she needs to be strict and scold students, and, she also sees moments when she needs to praise her students. Because scolding and praising is a delicate balance, she feels it is vital that teachers respect and care for each person. Without this connection as a foundation, a teacher cannot know when is the right moment to scold or praise the student in a meaningful manner. For example, she recently caught a student playing Nintendo DS during class. She had to first talk to them and be clear that that kind of behavior is not appropriate or acceptable. But if she only disciplines the student, he or she is likely to leave the conversation with a negative impression and distance themselves from her. This could create a bitter relationship between Fujita and the student. Instead, she looks for their strengths and praises them and tries to end the conversation with a positive message or express her expectation and belief in their potential.
It’s not enough to just have expectations in your mind. You have to let the student know by expressing it to them. When you do, they feel recognized and cared for. So students come to me afterwards [e.g., sometime at graduation or even years after graduation] to share their appreciation. Even if they might not understand now, I share my belief in their potential and future.
Fujita explains that a teacher-student relationship is a human-to-human relationship. However, as adults, teachers tend to talk to their students with an authoritative position and the relationships can be imposing or intimidating.
It’s easy for teachers to slip into their visibly labeled role as an adult or teacher figure, but when we do that, students can feel oppressed. So I think it’s important to create a human- to-human relationship that is first built on trust.