"To learn to give up his own will to that of his parents or teachers, as we must to the Greatest Teacher of all, will surely make him happy in this life and in the life to come." - Fanny Jackson Coppin
"I don't have to listen to you!"
"What will you give me if I do this?"
Karen's head was swimming with the voices of her indignant students. It was the first week of school, and she had already lost her grip on her eighth graders. But then she wondered if she had ever had a hold on them in the first place.
Assignments had become bargaining sessions. If you do this, I'll do that. Finish this first, and then we'll do this. On and on it went, day after day. She wasn't teaching; she was begging! Karen remembered that when she was in school, she'd never have dared to argue with her teacher about the assignment. The teacher had the last word then. But not anymore.
Yet she noticed that these same students never seemed happy or content. There was no joy in learning. There was negotiation in its place. Karen had played this game before and lost. It was time for a different strategy.
"I've got a deal for you," she began. "You work, and you'll pass. You don't work, and you'll fail."
Simple, yet satisfying.
Break the will without crushing the spirit - that's great teaching.
Prompt: As I think about the most enjoyable classes I have taken, what actions did my teachers take to effectively enlist my cooperation?
No comments:
Post a Comment