Empowerment
By Dr. Marcia Davis-Dawkins
Empowerment is “the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s rights.” It also encompasses authority or power given to someone to do something. Our role as educators definitely includes a deep sense of empowering our students. It means maximizing our students’ potential, as well as getting the best out of them and in doing so empowering ourselves.
I recently saw one of my students at a nail salon and after greeting me, she informed me that she was going to move to another state to pursue her graduate studies and eventually do her doctorate. I grinned with pride as she continued to say that I have been such an inspiration to her as a teacher that she wanted to follow in my footsteps!! Imagine my joy as I thought about my mantra of “if I can reach one student of the many that I have taught, then my work would have been 
done.” What an honor it was to hear those words from her. Even though this student was a joy to have in class and it wasn’t challenging to teach her – it still made a difference that I made an impact in her life and I empowered her. This student was, and I imagine is still, respectful and hardworking. I am sure this student had days when she thought “I will never get through this!” But she stuck to it and continued (and will continue to stick with) tasks as she embarks onto other challenges.
In general, I think that part of empowering someone includes helping the person to make the best of his/her time and assisting the person to keep on the goal at hand. This also includes staying focused and avoiding this that may distract or derail. Empower and teach students to be courageous and adventurous. They should be taught to persevere and put the pedal to the metal and move forward. It also entails picking up when you fall and understanding that sometime you have to get knocked down before you can stand taller than ever. They must accept that failure is an important aspect of growth and developing resilience and not fear it. In the classroom, teachers can empower students by incorporating lessons and activities that allow them to make decisions independently so they can gain knowledge about various role-playing. With the many hats that teachers wear, one of them also includes teaching students how to be empowered through decision-making, which is part of life’s lessons. In these lessons, there should be various tools, materials and school supplies available at the students’ disposable so they can experiment and work to improve their skills.
In the classroom, the students should feel empowered when they are told they are smart and they can conquer any fears or climb any mountain (especially with the teacher’s support). They should not feel intimidated, but with respect be able to express their feelings or opinions. It is also the teacher’s role as a leader to empower students so they can gravitate towards the teacher, and, in essence, acquire leadership roles.
Oh, when I think of the joy the teacher/student relationship can be when the student feels empowered as my former student feels! It is indeed an amazing feeling! So I lift my hat off to this particular student and all the other students who have been empowered by their teachers. The sky is the limit, my dear student. Continue to do your best – you are the epitome of the notion that we can shine even though we have problems or face issues, we can be empowered and succeed. As J. K. Rowling said, “Anything is possible if you’ve got enough nerve.”