Well, Judy (not her real name) caught me again. She came up to me after class as I was erasing the "how you feel" words off the white board and said, "You really gave it to a lot us today for slacking off. But, I don't understand something. What really got to me is that you did it in a way that said to us, 'I'm not angry. I'm just sad.' It was almost as if you were pleading with us to kick ourselves. How can you not be angry with us? Why didn't you yell at us? Why haven't you given up on some of us?"
I stopped and turned to her, and smiled. "Look, it's not even mid-term yet. There's lots of time left. You want to be a teacher. Well, learn that learning is unlearning; it's a process--a process--of getting rid of old habits with new ones. That takes constant practice, practice, practice. So, I don't expect everything to go perfectly the first or any or all the time. I expect more than a screw up or two from more than one or two of you. I'm helping you to learn from your screw ups. I'm just reminding you that just because you've screwed up, I won't let you convince yourself that you're a screw-up. I won't let you take the easy way out and surrender. So, I'm in your face and hopefully help you to get in your own face, to help you learn from your screw up so you'll screw up less next time. But, more important, the most important, learn that each of you are different. You have different stories and are at different points on your roads. That's the really diversity in here; it's not gender or race or religion or student or whatever; it's that each of you are your own unique 'you.' You're not 'a student.' You're a 'Judy.' No one in here or anywhere else is 'a Judy.' That makes you a special, unique, invaluable and rare one-of-a-kind. I have no idea what you're capable of doing or where you're capable of going and who you are capable of becoming. I'm struggling to help you see that neither do you. I'm struggling to get you to understand that you're not even a fixed 'I am,' but an always changing 'I am becoming.' You might say that I'm struggling to change you from thinking of yourself ending with a period to ending with a question mark. That's why I always tell you that if you trust me and give me a chance, if you trust you and give yourself a chance, together we'll challenge you to 'loosen or untie the "nots" in your "I cannots," kick yourself in your "cans," and see what happens.' Sure, I don't love what some of you are doing or not doing right now. But, that has nothing to do with me still loving you, having faith in you, having hope for you, and believing in you. It's has nothing to do with your smarts, abilities, talents, or your potentials. It has everything to do with your attitudes and efforts. And, it has everything to do with my attitude towards and efforts with you. So, for me, the only way to teach," I answered quietly, "is to teach to your attitudes and efforts by always seeing in each of you each moment an unrepeatable miracle, no matter what. I would love for you to ask yourself, 'What does he see in me that I don't?' It's a hard supporting, encouraging, and never stopping one-on-one struggle to get each of you to ask, much less to, answer that question, and then teach yourselves to use both the question and answer. And, if and when you do, well, who knows what can happen or who you can be. But, on that day you see yourself as that miracle, you'll start kicking ass. And, you'll never stop kicking. Guaranteed!" "Oh," she whispered. Make it a good day -Louis- Louis Schmier http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org<http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org/> Department of History http://www.therandomthoughts.com<http://www.therandomthoughts.com/> Valdosta State University Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ (O) 229-333-5947 /^\\/ \/ \ /\/\__ / \ / \ (C) 229-630-0821 / \/ \_ \/ / \/ /\/ / \ /\ \ //\/\/ /\ \__/__/_/\_\/ \_/__\ \ /\"If you want to climb mountains,\ /\ _ / \ don't practice on mole hills" - / \_ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=16101 or send a blank email to leave-16101-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
