Thoughts on Teaching and Learning

Teaching can be so rewarding. It can also be so frustrating.

There are days when the lessons you teach are like putting post-it notes on the refrigerator. You stick them on, expecting them to stay there. When you come back the next day, most of them are gone. So you start putting some new ones up, hoping that they will stick this time. Some do, some don’t. You keep trying new ways to get them to stick, hoping that keeping at it will eventually work.

Another thing I have to remind myself is that people learn at different rates. Too often I figure that I am in a small power boat, able to turn on a dime, when, in fact, trying to teach a classroom of students is trying to steer the Queen Mary.

We want people to change their habits quickly. I remember taking in psychology classes in university about shaping. Unfortunately, I sometimes get out the chainsaw and go at it instead of gently rubbing with sandpaper. The result is somebody who resists or is left in shock.

I should remember that it is always better to lead than to push. General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the US commander in chief of the Gulf War, showed his true leadership and the respect of his men when he risked his own life in Viet Nam to save men under his command trapped in a minefield.

I have found that if I can get in a position where I can honestly praise and encourage my students, the results are far better. Hours of learning can be destroyed by a negative experience. Almost everyone agrees that making mistakes is part of the learning process, but if we make the student afraid of trying for fear of making that mistake, then learning will be difficult.

There is so much to consider when you are teaching, especially in today’s world where the amount of knowledge is growing so fast. It’s hard to prepare the current generation for the future when there is no assurance what that future will be like.