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Look...

The lessons learned.

When we are learning are we focusing in the right direction?

Learning in a classroom. The teacher is teaching math. She is standing up there in front of 30 unruly teens who are hoped up on a new found addiction to coffee. She is teaching about exponential-binomial-yada-yada...
The guy in the back is talking loudly to his neighbour about the drinking party last weekend. The girl two rows over is doing her nails. There are two people asleep.
A handful are attentive to her teaching.
She sees everything before her and yet, she doesn't. She realizes that she cannot force these kids to learn. She teaches with style, grace and is engaging with those who are listening to her. What one may have learned, aside from the math, was grace under pressure. Choosing battles. Realizing what can be done and what is pointless to even think of doing.

A teacher taught me that being unnecessarily cruel will close the brightest mind.
Another taught me the value of humour in scary and tough situations.
And another taught me about kindness and empathy...
The curriculum?
I only learned the things I wanted to...I enjoyed and learned in literature, art class and Geology. The other teachers taught me things about behaviour and it's consequence in personal interactions.

These thoughts were spawned from a blog post I read today by Sean of The Daily Diary of a Winning Loser. He wrote about his fascinating grandfather and I realized how many times in my life that I am looking so intently at one thing (lesson, inspiration, etc.) that I miss the real lesson that's there.

Be aware. Look wider. Look broader than you usually do.
There is something to be found.


xoxoxo

2 comments:

Grey Lemon said...

Very nice lesson! On another level, it reminds me some english courses, where I've learnt not to use the negative form... as much as possible, it impacts my french as well today!

nikki said...

I guess that is why sometimes, teachers are given the respect to teach in comparison to our parents...I have seen many who have taken a teacher's word because it was offered, and not force-fed as in those given by their parents.