Friday, February 15, 2013

Why Teaching Is Important


A woman in college class I was covering said, "I am retarded when it comes to math."  It was the first class and I only knew her for twenty minutes when she made this comment while struggling with finding common denominators for three fractions.  That comment stopped me in my tracks.  Don't ever say something like that was what I said immediately.  Just because you struggle to learn something doesn't mean there is something wrong with you.  Maybe it was the way you were taught, maybe you had to hear something multiple times or maybe you were just never taught correctly the first time.  You wouldn't be here if you couldn't handle the work.  With that, she followed what I had shown her and successfully completed the problem she was currently working on and many others.

Teaching not only involves academics, it involves self confidence and self esteem.  Teaching people to believe in themselves is something everyone needs to be successful.  And, this is why teaching is important to me.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I tell my 9th graders that I will believe in them until they catch up to me; this is the time of year I get my payoff as they really show more maturity and hard work.