Teachers are Different

Hello everyone,

I've alluded, a few times recently, to the idea that teachers were different as children from most of their peers.

By and large, we were the kids in class that really loved learning. Some of us honestly loved school. We were excited to go to college, and we decided to become teachers because we wanted to pass that excitement on to future generations.

Many of us have a strong sense of social responsibility. We want to do good for society.

A large number of us who teach high school had life-changing experiences as adolescents, and we want to guide other adolescents through the quagmires and pitfalls of their teenage years.

We forget that, when we were in school, we typically shunned those students who hated school. We often avoided those who seemed to dislike learning. We abhorred bullies and buffoons, and we resented those who made learning difficult for those of us who wanted to learn.

Some of us were the kind-hearted souls who defended the teachers that were particularly vulnerable to student disruptions, and we spent hours with the teachers who taught the subjects we loved the most, often becoming life-long friends with them.

So, now we are the ones in front of a classroom full of students who weren't like us. Now we have to learn to understand the thinking of those who hated to learn, or those whose personal problems never resonated with us, or those whom we might have avoided when we were younger.

What sort of teachers can we consider ourselves if we don't make an effort to understand and teach those who don't want to be understood or taught?

Now, I know that I'm painting with a very broad brush. I know that there are many among us who have a deep personal understanding (often born of personal experience) with the most troubled and unresponsive of our students. I also know that there are many whose sympathies and understanding have been quickened by their experiences with struggling students in the classroom.

I'm bringing all this up not because I mean to suggest that we should allow reluctant or recalcitrant students to control what happens in our classes just so we show our compassion and understanding.

I'm writing this only because I think it's helpful for us to stop and think occasionally about how the rest of the world lives. The vast majority of our students will not become teachers; most of them think of school the way we think of teacher training programs (something to get through); most of them are not naturally excited about the things we love.

When we take that into account, we might look for ways of making our subject interesting to people that aren't naturally interested in it. We think of clear ways of explaining things to people that don't naturally think the way we do. We respect a variety of approaches and we don't take it personally if they don't love what we love.

I'm not perfect at it, and it's helpful for me to remember once in awhile.

Jeff Combe