Teaching is a Continuum and above all an Act of Love...
- My friend(student)...and teacher writes in his Easter greetings about my retirement...and about teaching...
- After four years he has a clearer perspective...
- After four years in university he has a better appreciation of teaching...
One thing that never changed every single year was
the rumour that you were retiring next year, and we the students always talked
about whether or not you were joking as usual or being serious. The rumours
were always the most serious for students who were supposed to have you the
next year. There was always those few kids who thought it would be a good thing
if you retired since they didn't like strict teachers. All they ever saw was
you yelling at the hallway dwellers and they unjustly based their opinions on
that. In the end, those were the students who never took your class and were
satisfied with applied math or no math at all in their senior years. The rest
of us, to be completely honest, were nervous about having you. Everybody had
friends or siblings who had been in your classes and everybody said that at the
end of the year, they were happy to have had you as their teacher. But, they
also said it takes a while to get used to a completely different teacher than
we're used to having and that you will have to learn to take a joke.
Getting to know you was truly a great experience, a
breath of fresh air, but also somewhat disheartening. I say disheartening
because it's like anything good. When you find something good, you always want
more of it. In our case, we would have liked all of our teachers to be like you
but unique in their own way. We wanted that freedom that you gave us and we
wanted to be treated like mature students, even if we weren't, because it made
us feel like part of something bigger and better. It was somewhat weird because
you treated us all as equals to you yet those mature enough to understand that
and not take advantage of that, knew that you were in charge and that
regardless of what we thought was best, listening to you would always be worth
our time.
You may have retired from teaching within confined
walls and although none of us has you in our everyday lives (aside from the
blog), you taught us so many valuable life lessons that we will never forget.
Even though I've graduated a few years ago, my friends and I continue to bring
up things that happened in your class. For me personally, there's all those
little things that come into everyday life that I always think back on like
what I do with the garbage from the eraser after I've used it. They may be
small things, but they're things that you taught not just one person, but
hundreds over your years of teaching.
Dear friend(student)....Teacher,
- Jesus was/is a teacher...He taught on the sea shore while roaming on the sand...He taught on the mountain and delivered THE BEATITUDES...He taught on the cross and delivered us from our sins...
We do not need four walls to enable us to teach...
- Teaching above all is an act of love...not for money, but love for human beings...
The four walls must serve to focus us and avoid distractions... but love has to rule the room...otherwise the four walls will confine our thinking process and will resemble a "classroom"...
But teaching has to liberate us from prejudices of our childhood and make us free thinking adults...
The focussed classroom discussion should be liberating from societal norms and shackles...Students should not be treated as empty bags...and teachers regurgitate facts and fill the bag with facts and facts and more...till the bag is full and the "bag" graduates...
And if the kid has difficulties...and not receptive to the process of "filling in the bags...", we give them "low marks", we suspend them, we even kick them out of the four walls and deny them the "filling in..." game.
When love is absent...the four walls of the room become boring and eventually suffocating...If we fill the room with love and understanding and compassion...we will reach ALL and we will lead-teach all...
***
I was assigned to teach a group some basic math.
We practiced the usual - percents and decimals and taxes and the rest..., I noticed a student who was eager to learn and excel...He did all the assignment quickly and correct too... After the initial workout he got bored and agitated and disruptive...I talked to him alone...Told him he is very intelligent and that I am very pleased with his work...I suggested that he will be my assistant and help the rest of the students once he completes his work...He was happy and he agreed...It worked very well...
After few weeks I told him to consider to be transferred to a higher level math...University level...He was hesitant...He was ashamed...since he was behind the rest of the university bound kids...I told him that I will find "few good kids" that will help him...only if he wants and only if he promises to himself to work hard...
He agreed...
It was a challenge...but a GOOD one...I was happy too...
This was in Grade 11...
We worked hard...He work hard...and He did it...
God bless him...He attended university...He studied business...Now I am sure he is out there somewhere and content...
***
Dear friend,
Miracles will happen only if we want them to happen...Love will make them happen...Love for human beings, not greed for materials...not love for money...
Teaching is not a job...Teaching is an act of love...
That is why...Jesus was the better teacher...
This is what is lacking and this is why the admin...is wrong and they are obtuse...They have missed the Bible...They have misread the Bible...May be they have not read the GOOD BOOK...even.
Thank you for your note...
I will write more...tomorrow and the day after and teach more that will liberate first and foremost myself and then...
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