Teaching Thought #4
Be positive.
You know the saying when you’re a hammer, everything looks
like a nail. Well, when you’re a
teacher, what does every student start to look like?
Last year I was talking with a colleague about a student I
had in class. In discussing how this
student was doing, I noticed that my colleague really struggled with her in
class the previous year. My colleague offered
me some thoughts, and I stored them away.
But I was trepidatious about this student. Later that same day, I was visiting with
another colleague about this same student.
The first words out of this person’s mouth concerning my student were,
“Great kid. I miss having them in
class.”
Wow.
Two totally different takes on
one student.
What accounts for this?
I think part of it what I opened this teaching thought with. If you tend to have a negative view of
students, you tend to see problems. You
tend to struggle with them. If you have
a positive view of students, you tend to see potential. You tend to succeed with them.
To quote Mr. Zutz here, I think the first teacher with whom
I visited was seeking to find students doing something wrong; the second
teacher with whom I visited was seeking to find students doing something right.
In which camp do you want to be?
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