A Tale of Two Teachers
Last week I read a story on Yahoo about a father who was trying to figure out why his autistic son was acting out at school. He had consulted therapists and others as to why his son would behave this way when he had not done so before. Finally the man sent his son to school with a recording device hoping that maybe that would provide a clue. The result was posted on You Tube and showed the teachers taunting (that was the word used in the article) and speaking inappropriately to and about this child. (I'm using the information from this story, I did not choose to hear the clip.) I was appalled. Assuming that this is true it shows a shocking lack of professionalism from the teachers.
I felt really bad for the boy. This could affect how he learns and how he feels about school which could affect his future. Just as a good teacher can have a very positive effect on a student throughout her/his life so also can a bad teacher.
Here is a tale of two teachers and how I have been affected by both of them.
Mr. Henning taught junior high phys ed. There was a rumour that he was actually a retired Marine drill sergeant. I would not have doubted it. If you were athletic, you would have no problem with him. I wasn't. I was short,awkward, wore glasses and had poor hand eye coordination. Although I tried my best is phys ed I was always slower and not as skillful as most of the rest of my classmates.
Many times we would start out class with a warm up run. We would have to run a certain amount of laps around the gym in a certain amount of time. If there was anyone who wasn't finished after the time limit, everyone would get five extra laps. I was always still running.
We would have "units" which meant we would spend a week or so doing one sport and then go on to another. For instance we would have soccer,swimming, track and field events and softball. Mr. Henning would teach some of those units. I always dreaded the units where balls would be used. My poor hand eye coordination made things like batting and hitting a tennis ball difficult. I would usually miss by about two inches or so. It was embarrassing. At least in softball I was always sent out to left or right field so I wouldn't have to try to catch anything.
Soccer was the worst. At least twice a week I would get hit in the head with a ball. While I know that this is possible to do accidentally I don't remember anyone else getting hit that often. I was certain my classmates were aiming for my head and equally sure that Mr. Henning wouldn't stop them.
The result is that I developed a deep dislike for physical activity and for team sports. I will watch them, but never play. The fact that I didn't become seriously overweight as a young woman was because I was careful about what I ate.
About ten years ago or so I joined a YMCA to get into better shape. I preferred to use the stationary bike or treadmill and the weight machines. For a year or so, I took a spinning class out of curiosity. I liked the class and the vigorous workout it gave me, but still felt awkward, ungainly and less able then the more athletic members of the class.
When we moved to St. Paul I didn't join a YMCA. I had some workout videos that I liked. I began to enjoy working out. We later acquired an elliptical and a small set of hand weights. Three years ago or so I took up running and found that it wasn't as bad as I remembered it. I still have an aversion to playing on a sports team and I don't think that will leave me. The scars from Mr Henning's classes are fading slowly.
The other teacher was Mr. Seeger. He taught high school chemistry. I was planning to go to college and knew that I would have to take a whole year of chemistry. I liked the sciences and was pretty good at them. I looked forward to the class.
It was a great class. I can't tell you all the specific things I learned, I just remember that I enjoyed it and learned a lot. It seemed so easy and Mr. Seeger seemed to like what he was doing. I can still remember an extra credit question from a test he gave. How many words can you make using the abbreviations from the Periodic Table? (example BaNaNa)
That year there was a career fair that we had to attend. People from all different jobs sat at tables and would talk about what they did. I was planning to become a physical or occupational therapist. I signed up for those sessions and needed a third. Since I liked chemistry I signed up to talk to the pharmacist. I was hooked. The other two required too much math and physics for me. Pharmacy involved a lot of chemistry and biology two things that interested me. I decided I wanted to be a pharmacist.
Mr Seeger also influenced my life in a much more positive way. I'm not sure I would have considered pharmacy if it hadn't been for his chemistry class.
The point of the tale is this, things that you do can have larger results than you might imagine. If you are in a position that deals with children and/or young people you have tremendous power. You have influence that can affect them the rest of their lives. Know that you have this power, this gift and use it wisely.
I felt really bad for the boy. This could affect how he learns and how he feels about school which could affect his future. Just as a good teacher can have a very positive effect on a student throughout her/his life so also can a bad teacher.
Here is a tale of two teachers and how I have been affected by both of them.
Mr. Henning taught junior high phys ed. There was a rumour that he was actually a retired Marine drill sergeant. I would not have doubted it. If you were athletic, you would have no problem with him. I wasn't. I was short,awkward, wore glasses and had poor hand eye coordination. Although I tried my best is phys ed I was always slower and not as skillful as most of the rest of my classmates.
Many times we would start out class with a warm up run. We would have to run a certain amount of laps around the gym in a certain amount of time. If there was anyone who wasn't finished after the time limit, everyone would get five extra laps. I was always still running.
We would have "units" which meant we would spend a week or so doing one sport and then go on to another. For instance we would have soccer,swimming, track and field events and softball. Mr. Henning would teach some of those units. I always dreaded the units where balls would be used. My poor hand eye coordination made things like batting and hitting a tennis ball difficult. I would usually miss by about two inches or so. It was embarrassing. At least in softball I was always sent out to left or right field so I wouldn't have to try to catch anything.
Soccer was the worst. At least twice a week I would get hit in the head with a ball. While I know that this is possible to do accidentally I don't remember anyone else getting hit that often. I was certain my classmates were aiming for my head and equally sure that Mr. Henning wouldn't stop them.
The result is that I developed a deep dislike for physical activity and for team sports. I will watch them, but never play. The fact that I didn't become seriously overweight as a young woman was because I was careful about what I ate.
About ten years ago or so I joined a YMCA to get into better shape. I preferred to use the stationary bike or treadmill and the weight machines. For a year or so, I took a spinning class out of curiosity. I liked the class and the vigorous workout it gave me, but still felt awkward, ungainly and less able then the more athletic members of the class.
When we moved to St. Paul I didn't join a YMCA. I had some workout videos that I liked. I began to enjoy working out. We later acquired an elliptical and a small set of hand weights. Three years ago or so I took up running and found that it wasn't as bad as I remembered it. I still have an aversion to playing on a sports team and I don't think that will leave me. The scars from Mr Henning's classes are fading slowly.
The other teacher was Mr. Seeger. He taught high school chemistry. I was planning to go to college and knew that I would have to take a whole year of chemistry. I liked the sciences and was pretty good at them. I looked forward to the class.
It was a great class. I can't tell you all the specific things I learned, I just remember that I enjoyed it and learned a lot. It seemed so easy and Mr. Seeger seemed to like what he was doing. I can still remember an extra credit question from a test he gave. How many words can you make using the abbreviations from the Periodic Table? (example BaNaNa)
That year there was a career fair that we had to attend. People from all different jobs sat at tables and would talk about what they did. I was planning to become a physical or occupational therapist. I signed up for those sessions and needed a third. Since I liked chemistry I signed up to talk to the pharmacist. I was hooked. The other two required too much math and physics for me. Pharmacy involved a lot of chemistry and biology two things that interested me. I decided I wanted to be a pharmacist.
Mr Seeger also influenced my life in a much more positive way. I'm not sure I would have considered pharmacy if it hadn't been for his chemistry class.
The point of the tale is this, things that you do can have larger results than you might imagine. If you are in a position that deals with children and/or young people you have tremendous power. You have influence that can affect them the rest of their lives. Know that you have this power, this gift and use it wisely.
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