Teaching Future Educators

GSW hosts Future Educators Day presentation

by Amari Rudison, Staff Writer

On October 18, GSW opened its doors for Future Georgia Educators day. The campus welcomed high school students from Thomas County, Sumter County, and Dougherty County who are working hard to become future teachers. Students attending this event had the pleasure of listening to Michael Kobito, who is the 2023 Georgia Teacher of the Year.

After recognizing the impact that teachers have made on the students attending the event, Michael Kobito was introduced to the stage. Kobito let the students know that the skills they were learning now would lead future children. His presentation shed light on the type of teachers future educators should strive to be, and how to stay connected through learning. During his presentation, Kobito explained that fostering relationships with students is what mattered the most in education. Kobito then followed up with a small activity for the students that allowed them to get to know each other and find new ways to connect.

Michael Kobito giving his presentation on the importance of bonding with students.

Photo by University Relations

After this activity, Kobito explained the three Rs of education. The first R is Rigor, which is the quality of being exhaustive, or accurate. The second R is Relevance, the quality or state of being closely connected or appropriate. And the very last R to education is Relationships, the way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people, are related to each other. Kobito described relationships as the most important R because building relationships is how you make connections powerful enough to remember.

Moving forward, Kobito continued his presentation by breaking teachers into different groups. The first type of teacher is the “Unintentionally Uninviting Teacher” who distances themselves from students. This teacher cares about their students, but doesn’t know how to give them the information they need to learn. The second type of teacher is the “Unintentionally Inviting Teacher.” They are often labeled as the fun teacher, but they don’t mean to be, yet they somehow still have their students involved and engaged in their work. An “Intentionally Uninviting Teacher” is a teacher that learned everything one way and tries to teach their students the same way they learned. Lastly, the “Intentionally Inviting Teacher” is where the master teachers come from. They have Lastly, the “Intentionally Inviting Teacher” is where the master teachers come from. They have a strong passion for teaching their students.

Concluding his presentation, Kobito expressed to the students how relevant it is to teach and how they can help the people around them.

GSW Education Major volunteers

Photo by University Relations.