Tuesday, December 08, 2009
The Solution
A couple of months ago, I attended an inservice for Mathematics Teachers in our County. I decided to attend one of the one hour sessions with the title, "The Joy of Teaching." The fellow math teacher was a former Presbyterian minister and I thought he had some good things to say, even to a 29 year veteran teacher. The point he made that made the most impact with me was this:
"What has helped me in the classroom to deal with students, fellow teachers, and parents is this notion - I choose to focus on the solution rather than the problem."
The way he illustrated the idea was to ask our group of teachers, "What do you do when a student comes to your class without a pencil?" Immediately a guy, at least 20 years younger than me, launched into a tirade about students being irresponsible and that his students knew better than to come his class without a pencil for they would face at the very least, a detention after school.
Our instructor responded by saying, "I choose to focus on the solution rather than the problem. The solution is the kid needs a pencil. I don't waste energy or class time engaging in the same kind of lecture you (the young teacher) just gave us. I give the kid a pencil and we move on to the important things."
What do you think?
If anyone answers, I'll give you my read (without slamming yours) and also tell you how I'm trying to apply that to shepherding our church.
God bless.
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Being a teacher myself....I give them a pencil. (Well, in my classroom it is a pen). I have a bucket of them to use and borrow. They are in my classroom to learn and if a pen is part of it and if they are knuckle heads (using a Cecil word) then I give them a pen. Oh no...I also will print for them if their printer is out of ink. (Don't tell anyone...some teachers go nuts if the kids hand them a jump drive and says, my printer is out of ink).
I can definitely see the presenter's point of view and the easiest and quickest solution is to give him a pencil. Should that same student show up every day without a pencil, then I'd say focusing on the solution as he does actual promotes the student's irresponsibility. Isn't responsibility a part of the learning task? So my answer is ambiguous at best! I would add, though, that the younger teacher's tirade against the student really doesn't resolve anything. If he needs to talk to the student about responsibility, do so one on one and not in front of the rest of the class. My wife taught for over 25 years and she, like you and Lauramay, just kept extra pencils available. I was a preacher for 30 years and I've found myself in situations when I needed a Bible and didn't have one. Things like that just happen.
Lauramay - Your secret is safe with me. :)
I keep a box of pencils and a pack of paper on a table in the front of the room. In fact, about the only time I might want to yell is if a student sits like a bump on a log at their desk and doesn't ask for a pencil or paper.
Greg - I think you hit the nail on the head - life happens! How many of us have needed some grace when we deserved perhaps a tirade. How does it make us feel (or in a student's case - learn) when we are guilty, need grace, and receive it vs. getting the tirade.
For all of us no matter the age - when someone yells at you - zero learning will take place.
Sorry about making a comment a post but I will post more on this.
I keep a box of pencils and a pack of paper on a table in the front of the room. In fact, about the only time I might want to yell is if a student sits like a bump on a log at their desk and doesn't ask for a pencil or paper.
Greg - I think you hit the nail on the head - life happens! How many of us have needed some grace when we deserved perhaps a tirade. How does it make us feel (or in a student's case - learn) when we are guilty, need grace, and receive it vs. getting the tirade.
For all of us no matter the age - when someone yells at you - zero learning will take place.
Sorry about making a comment a post but I will post more on this.
I'd supply the pencils. It IS focusing on the solution rather than the problem and, for me, it would decrease the level of frustration for myself! A kid could show up without needed supplies for many reasons. Irresponsibility is just one of them. Rather than beating on the kid, if it happened over and over, I'd talk to the parents. As an aside, I can remember being in a high school English class when the teacher announced that all but one person in class had paid for their workbook, and this needed to be done. A guy sitting next to me made a remark and laughed, "WHO doesn't have $1.25?" Well, that person was ME and my parents DIDN'T always have what I needed for school supplies. This is really the only time I remember being in this position, because they were immensely proud of me for staying in school to graduate. But there was not an abundance of money, and there just had not been an extra $1.25. My mother started to work for the first time outside the home in order to pay for my senior year expenses. I got my first ever yearbook the year I graduated. My class ring cost $20 and senior pictures were somewhere around $60......in 1967. My purpose for sharing this is that there are many perspectives to the issue of which you speak. Sorry for the length of comment! :)
Meowmix is so correct about the money issue, especially in todays economy. Many students parents are laid off right now and they are draining their savings. Many children see the stress their parents are under and don't bother to mention they need this and that for school.
Cecil...we all need grace alot of the time, we all expect but most of us do not want to give it.
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Cecil...we all need grace alot of the time, we all expect but most of us do not want to give it.
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