I often observe little children, babies and toddlers. They are unaware of the learning process but us, adults, often say, 'Oh dear! He/she was just a newborn yesterday!'. But no change happens overnight. WE, the adults, are aware of how much they've learned over short period of time.
A baby becomes a toddler by having the desire to move from point A to B. He/she tries and fails and with enough tries (and a little push from parents) it manages to start crawling. Once that's achieved with certain self security, the baby is not satisfied - it tries to stand. Tries and fails and realizes it would be easier if it holds on to something. Then crawls to the sofa or coffee table and holding to the top, the toddler tries stand up. Manages for few seconds and then falls. Given enough tries, our toddler manages to stand up. Just watch the face of the baby then toddler as they achieve their goals. It's lit as Christmas lights! WHY? Because it managed to overcome an obstacle that at the beginning seemed impossible. What do parents do while their children learn the basics? They observe, encourage and help, but they don't try to rush their children, or pick them up in their hands and solve the mystery of standing. Otherwise their children would never straighten up or stand on their own, walk, run, ride a bicycle,... Why should teachers' role be any different when their students should learn something? Teachers should observe, encourage and help, but they need to dose all of that to the individual abilities and will of a student. Teacher's should be helpers, the real learning is done by both: students learn to learn and teachers learn how students learn. To end, I'll quote one of my favorite authors, Paolo Koeljo from his 'Manual for the Warrior of Light'. 'A responsible Warrior is not someone who takes the weight of the world on his shoulders, but someone who has learned to deal with the challenges of the moment.'
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There's not much difference between being persistent and being stubborn. It only depends on the perspective. Being stubborn is considered negative and being persistent a positive attribute. Well, I'm both! I set my mind and there's no option of stopping. I may swerve left or right, might modify my original idea or intent, but basically it gets done! Scary right? This is what happened few years after I started teaching, and I'm teaching for over 20 years. My student R.
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