I’ve done a great deal of teaching and tutoring over the years and I am still at it. I specialize in mathematics because I see so many people who are terrified of numbers. I was never a favorite teacher because of the way I made the subject that I taught exciting but because I made it understandable.
I have often encountered students who have given up on themselves when it comes to math. They tell me stories of hating numbers and word problems from the time they were quite young. I have heard the refrain, “I’m just no good at this kind of thing” over and over again.” They seem to be defeated before they even try to overcome their fears and negative beliefs.
One of the worst situations involved a young man who had not performed well on a fourth grade STARR test. His fifth grade teacher hastily scheduled a conference with his mother to warn the mom that the boy was not likely to pass the fifth grade test at the end of the year. The teacher explained that the best course of action would be to take him slowly though the curriculum and let him know that it would be okay when he failed the end of year exam. He would be able to repeat fifth grade and in the process gain the maturity he needed to ultimately succeed.
The mom was stunned and got a referral for my services from her sister-in-law whose children I was homeschooling. When I heard the tale I immediately agreed to work with child all year long. I did not tell the mother how angry I was that anyone had been so brusque with her son as to conclude failure before he even had a chance to improve.
I met the young man and could tell that his confidence was in tatters. He said that he wanted to be smart like his father who was a mechanical engineer but the boy had come to believe that he would never be that way. He was wary about answering questions lest he prove that he was indeed not so bright. He had accepted the idea that something was wrong with him.
I spent the next many meetings attempting to help him to understand that he was in fact quite intelligent. I turned the learning into sessions designed to demonstrate to him that he was not only capable of learning anything but actually someone who caught on to concepts very quickly. I insisted that he was teaching me things that I had not known. Slowly but surely he began to believe in himself once again.
I’m happy to say the this child did indeed pass the STARR test at the end of the year with a Commended score. I kept tutoring him until he had completed Pre-Calculus in High School with all A’s and B’s. At our last session I asked him if he knew how smart he is and with a beaming smile he shook his head up and down with a rousing, “Yes!”
I suppose this story means much to me because I was also a Dean of Faculty charged with mentoring and guiding teachers. I was fortunate to work with the best of the best but I would have been quite disturbed if I had learned of a teacher who was actually setting students up for failure before they even had a chance to try to do better. Sadly I know that such individuals do exist and I can’t imagine why they would want to call themselves educators.
My university called education a science rather than an art but I tend to believe that it is a bit of both. Without the art attempts at teaching are doomed. There are great teachers who go well beyond conveying the skills of a subject. They have perfected the art of inspiring students and helping them to realize potential that they may not have realized they have. Those are the teachers who are remembered forever. They tap into the human spirit in ways that bring out the very best in their pupils. They are the teachers who understand that many young people are sometimes reticent to even believe in their own capabilities. It is their job to show them how to realize the full potential of their lives.
We have all encountered such wonderful teachers and left their care with confidence that was missing before we met them. I think of the English teacher who taught me how to write, the art teacher who showed me the creativity that was always mine, the P.E. teacher who convinced me that I am not a hopeless klutz, the professor who inspired me to understand how to bring out the best in every student.
I love teachers. Most of them are dedicated and delightful people. When we find those who are defeating our students before they even try, we might gently show them how to change their methods or, failing that, suggest other ways for them to earn a living. People like that are not educators. They are simply folks who are unhappy with their jobs. We do them and the students a favor by redirecting them to a career they might enjoy. Most teachers do so much more and in being so wonderful they enrich the world.
All It Takes Is A Little Love 