You Smile, I Smile: The Influence of Teachers’ Happiness to Grade 10 Students’ Perception of their Performance

Abstract

The process of learning is emotional as well as intellectual. With this principle, it is assumed that both teachers and students need to have a positive mental and emotional state during the class. However, studies about the influence of teachers’ happiness to the students’ performance are scarce. Therefore, the researchers sought to know the students’ perception on this topic. Through convenience sampling, thirty respondents were chosen from the population of Grade 10 students enrolled in Manuel G. Araullo High School. They answered a questionnaire composed of both closed and open-ended questions. Mode and mean were used to analyze the collected data. This study determined the top seven indicators of teacher’s happiness. A teacher is seen as happy by the learners when the teacher smiles; he/she starts the class discussion with greetings; he/she seems to enjoy while teaching; he/she is kind; he/she teaches in a nice way; he/she is full of energy; and, he/she is active. Majority of the students say that their teachers are happy 51-75% of the time. Students perceive that their teachers’ happiness and lack of happiness both influence their learning. Specifically, they do not learn the lesson anymore if their teachers are not happy. Students also believe they learn the most if their teachers are happy. It is recommended that the teachers manifest the top seven indicators of teachers’ happiness. Teachers are encouraged to study if there are significant relationships between the happiness of teachers and the happiness of student and their academic performance. Keywords – academic performance, happiness, perception