two teachers - one lesson

I encountered two very different teachers today. Both extremely well-qualified and competent, but with very different approaches, and drawing very different responses from students. Granted, these are just snapshots -- things I noticed in one day -- but I think they are worth mentioning.

Teacher 1: In the faculty lounge before school, obviously sick as a dog and wanting to be nowhere else but home in bed. He sat at the table, slack-faced, trying to find his way back to some kind of consciousness before first period. One of the other teachers pointed out that he looked terrible and should go home. He responded by shaking his head in the negative, standing up, and saying quietly,

"No. Today, we begin the Civil War. That's too important."

As if he wouldn't trust the education of his students to anyone else. Nor would he allow it to be put on hold for one more day just because he was feeling under the weather. Call it martyrdom if you will, but there was something very touching and honest in the way he said it. It helped me understand why one of my own students remarked to me earlier that she "loves his class and actually wants to work hard and learn in his classroom".

Teacher 2: Later, while I was eating in the faculty lunchroom, I overheard another exchange in which a teacher was told that one of their students was too afraid of them to approach and discuss an issue with them.

The Lesson
Both incidents left indelible marks on my consciousness for the day. By the way, I respect both teachers a great deal, and neither story is meant to say anything contrary. But they made me wonder about my own classes, and what kind of responses I engender in my students.

I had a free period later in the day, so I actually attended the class on the Civil War. (Learned a lot, in fact.) I was impressed by the level of respect in the room. There was a little chatting going on, but generally the room was quiet. And when the teacher was speaking, the room was absolutely quiet.

But the lesson I really needed to hear was about how the South, before the war began, issued an ultimatum to Major Anderson at Fort Sumter in South Carolina on April 12, 1861. (Impressive, huh?) Anyway, Fort Sumter was still a Union-held fort, and Lincoln had ordered the Major and his troops to stay put. The South told them to get out by April 12, or they would open fire.

The teacher paused and sat down on his desk. He said, Ultimatums are very dangerous. New teachers learn this lesson very quickly in their careers. Any time you make a threat, you must be willing to carry it out. Otherwise, you will never be respected again. When Major Anderson stood his ground, the South (because they now had to) fired at dawn on April 12th, thus beginning the bloodiest war in American history. (And, as Lincoln had wanted, the South fired the first shot.)

I immediately raced through my memory banks of the last three months. How many empty threats had I made? How many late assignments had I accepted? How many times did I let students walk in late to class? And how was it that this teacher inspired not fear in his students, but a desire to succeed?

How, indeed?

Posted: Thu - December 4, 2003 at 04:22 PM

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two teachers - one lesson

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