Why i became a teacher...

wil

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An old man meets a young man who asks:
“Do you remember me?”
And the old man says no. Then the young man tells him he was his student, And the teacher asks:

“What do you do, what do you do in life?”
The young man answers:
“Well, I became a teacher.”
“ah, how good, like me?” Asks the old man.
“Well, yes. In fact, I became a teacher because you inspired me to be like you.”
The old man, curious, asks the young man at what time he decided to become a teacher.

And the young man tells him the following story:
“One day, a friend of mine, also a student, came in with a nice new watch, and I decided I wanted it.
I stole it, I took it out of his pocket.
Shortly after, my friend noticed the his watch was missing and immediately complained to our teacher, who was you.
Then you addressed the class saying, ‘This student's watch was stolen during classes today. Whoever stole it, please return it.’
I didn't give it back because I didn't want to.
You closed the door and told us all to stand up and form a circle.


You were going to search our pockets one by one until the watch was found.
However, you told us to close our eyes, because you would only look for his watch if we all had our eyes closed.

We did as instructed.
You went from pocket to pocket, and when you went through my pocket, you found the watch and took it. You kept searching everyone's pockets, and when you were done you said ‘open your eyes. We have the watch.’
You didn't tell on me and you never mentioned the episode. You never said who stole the watch either. That day you saved my dignity forever. It was the most shameful day of my life.

But this is also the day I decided not to become a thief, a bad person, etc. You never said anything, nor did you even scold me or take me aside to give me a moral lesson.
I received your message clearly.
Thanks to you, I understood what a real educator needs to do.

Do you remember this episode, professor?
The old professor answered, ‘Yes, I remember the situation with the stolen watch, which I was looking for in everyone’s pocket. I didn't remember you, because I also closed my eyes while looking.’

This is the essence of teaching:
If to correct you must humiliate; you don't know how to teach "
 
Nice one @wil
Wish they were all like that

More comfortable on the front line in Ukraine, than teaching kids, imo ;)
 
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Nice one @wil
Wish they were all like that

More comfortable on the front line in Ukraine, than teaching kids, imo ;)

I believe almost all teachers go into the program wide eyed, naive, and want to e courage students to be all they can be.

I believe it.is one of the few professions whose basic goal is for the folks they work with do more and be more than they themselves are.

I also believe it is primarily not students antics or disrespect that changes the course of those ambitions but parents, admin, and bureaucracy...but kids like me were also a problem.
 
I believe almost all teachers go into the program wide eyed, naive, and want to e courage students to be all they can be.

I believe it.is one of the few professions whose basic goal is for the folks they work with do more and be more than they themselves are.

I also believe it is primarily not students antics or disrespect that changes the course of those ambitions but parents, admin, and bureaucracy...but kids like me were also a problem.
I've been on both sides of the coin myself in a way.

Drove several of my teachers crazy for being way ahead of everyone else , and I ended up teaching several kids in a private school about subjects better than the actual teachers involved in the kids' regular classes! (Hell, one kid asked me to help him with a writing assignment, later telling me that his compositions were far better when I gave him a little advice concerning characters ["Is he obsessive about eating PB&J sandwiches every Wednesday? Is he colorblind so all of his socks are mismatched? Does he suffer from severe hayfever? Flesh out your character, make him more than just his religion Your audience will appreciate it."].)

I was a lowly teaching assistant, and the English teacher there didn't like me. :oops:

Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine
 
I've been on both sides of the coin myself in a way.

Drove several of my teachers crazy for being way ahead of everyone else , and I ended up teaching several kids in a private school about subjects better than the actual teachers involved in the kids' regular classes! (Hell, one kid asked me to help him with a writing assignment, later telling me that his compositions were far better when I gave him a little advice concerning characters ["Is he obsessive about eating PB&J sandwiches every Wednesday? Is he colorblind so all of his socks are mismatched? Does he suffer from severe hayfever? Flesh out your character, make him more than just his religion Your audience will appreciate it."].)

I was a lowly teaching assistant, and the English teacher there didn't like me. :oops:

Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine
Oh wow, Phyllis you're a very smart person!

(edited see post #6 below)
 
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The thread is about teaching young people, but extending it a bit to the school of life: the advice of the I Ching is for the sage -- or 'suoerior man' -- to seek 'virtue' in his own life.

The true teaching is by example and human empathy, not by words alone and not by offering advice to someone unless they ask for it?

Something like that?
 
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If to correct you must humiliate; you don't know how to teach "
Indeed. However, not all situations are teacher to student.

Many of the folks who come through here already "believe" they "know," and they are here to correct everyone else. That is not a teacher.

Those of us who are here to learn and share do not demand others accept our same beliefs, and we as students understand that not everyone will see the same things or come to the same understanding - and make allowance for those differences.

I know it seems sometimes I have answers for everything...but I've been at this a long time. I have been a lifelong if non-traditional student, and any truly good teacher will tell you there is always room to learn more. That is the root of not only science (in spite of layman's misuse of the term), but also philosophical and religious/spiritual quests.

A mind that already knows cannot learn.

“As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.” -Socrates

“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.” -Michel Legrand
 
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