Patience For Those We Teach
I have marveled at amazing teachers of my past and present, as I'm sure many other folks have with their own instructors. And likewise, I have thought back to those teachers that just did not seem fit for educating.
I write to discuss one quality, in particular, which can be found in educators that just don't seem to be made for teaching. That quality is impatience.
So many times, at least in my life, teachers have grown upset at me or others for not quickly and easily grasping concepts that they were trying to teach in class. They've grown so upset, that the focus of their attention had strayed from teaching a lesson in class, to lecturing a student on paying more attention or refraining from clowning around. And then, after a mighty lecture, the teacher would offer no further clarification of whatever the students were supposed to be learning. Instead, the students would be expected to know what had been taught earlier in the day, and class would carry on with anxious students, and a frustrated teacher.
My past teachers would utter phrases such as, "I'm not going to repeat myself," or, “you should have been paying better attention.”
But some things are just hard for some people to grasp. I've been studying algebra for 5 or 6 years, and I still don't understand the stuff! But I'm great at spelling. On the other hand, my good friend is horrible at spelling, although he's a marvelous reader and great at math, too!
Different people have different strengths and weaknesses, and therefore they have different propensities to learn. And most people have certain things that they excel quickly at, and other things that they just can't get the hang of. They're mentally and physiologically wired that way. And for those times when one person does not easily grasp a lesson that someone else is teaching them, I do not think that it is helpful for their teacher to criticize them for slowly learning.
If we are going to set out to educate, then we need to be actually educating. To expect every person to understanding something as easily as anyone else is ludicrous.
If a student is sincerely trying to understand a concept but does not grasp it, and the teacher does not make the effort to help them understand it, then that teacher is not teaching at all. There are many hired teachers that I have come across in my education who have stifled children from learning in just that way. Perhaps these teachers grow angry at their students when they know that they are inadequately presenting a concept, and that's unfair.
Even if students are reluctant to learn, for whatever reason, chastising them will not shed any light on the subject at hand.
Instead, teachers could take the time to involve a student in an activity that illustrates, hands-on, how something works. This way, everyone involved can learn. By moving step-by-step toward understanding a concept or lesson, a teacher can discover where and why their student is having difficulty understanding it. And from there, a real lesson can be learned, and other lessons, too -- such as patience and compassion.
I think that if someone is going to set out to teach all sorts of people something, then they ought to be ready to deal with all sorts of people. Because all sorts of people want to learn, and they are also all very different.
I feel strongly that educators, as the ones whom students look up to, should always do their best to help students understand the lessons. If teachers find themselves incapable of teaching certain lessons, then it is their responsibility to point their students in the right direction to learn those lessons. Whether they guide their students to other teachers, or even the library, teachers ought to always assist a student who is making efforts to learn. And they should do so patiently.
A recent quote from IDEA's webpage inspired this blog post, as it brought back so many public school memories. It was a Chinese proverb which states, "Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”
Posted in on Feb 15, 2010 - 09:34 PM
There are many variables to being a great teacher. And not every great teacher necessarily teaches the same way, nor shares the same traits.I have marveled at amazing teachers of my past and present, as I'm sure many other folks have with their own instructors. And likewise, I have thought back to those teachers that just did not seem fit for educating.
I write to discuss one quality, in particular, which can be found in educators that just don't seem to be made for teaching. That quality is impatience.
So many times, at least in my life, teachers have grown upset at me or others for not quickly and easily grasping concepts that they were trying to teach in class. They've grown so upset, that the focus of their attention had strayed from teaching a lesson in class, to lecturing a student on paying more attention or refraining from clowning around. And then, after a mighty lecture, the teacher would offer no further clarification of whatever the students were supposed to be learning. Instead, the students would be expected to know what had been taught earlier in the day, and class would carry on with anxious students, and a frustrated teacher.
My past teachers would utter phrases such as, "I'm not going to repeat myself," or, “you should have been paying better attention.”
But some things are just hard for some people to grasp. I've been studying algebra for 5 or 6 years, and I still don't understand the stuff! But I'm great at spelling. On the other hand, my good friend is horrible at spelling, although he's a marvelous reader and great at math, too!
Different people have different strengths and weaknesses, and therefore they have different propensities to learn. And most people have certain things that they excel quickly at, and other things that they just can't get the hang of. They're mentally and physiologically wired that way. And for those times when one person does not easily grasp a lesson that someone else is teaching them, I do not think that it is helpful for their teacher to criticize them for slowly learning.
If we are going to set out to educate, then we need to be actually educating. To expect every person to understanding something as easily as anyone else is ludicrous.
If a student is sincerely trying to understand a concept but does not grasp it, and the teacher does not make the effort to help them understand it, then that teacher is not teaching at all. There are many hired teachers that I have come across in my education who have stifled children from learning in just that way. Perhaps these teachers grow angry at their students when they know that they are inadequately presenting a concept, and that's unfair.
Even if students are reluctant to learn, for whatever reason, chastising them will not shed any light on the subject at hand.
Instead, teachers could take the time to involve a student in an activity that illustrates, hands-on, how something works. This way, everyone involved can learn. By moving step-by-step toward understanding a concept or lesson, a teacher can discover where and why their student is having difficulty understanding it. And from there, a real lesson can be learned, and other lessons, too -- such as patience and compassion.
I think that if someone is going to set out to teach all sorts of people something, then they ought to be ready to deal with all sorts of people. Because all sorts of people want to learn, and they are also all very different.
I feel strongly that educators, as the ones whom students look up to, should always do their best to help students understand the lessons. If teachers find themselves incapable of teaching certain lessons, then it is their responsibility to point their students in the right direction to learn those lessons. Whether they guide their students to other teachers, or even the library, teachers ought to always assist a student who is making efforts to learn. And they should do so patiently.
A recent quote from IDEA's webpage inspired this blog post, as it brought back so many public school memories. It was a Chinese proverb which states, "Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”
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