Always a first time
December 19th 2007 03:25
Teachers, parents and students share a special relationship which allow new experiences to occur in a safe, supportive environment.
I believe that during our lives we experience a never ending series of 'first times'. It's not just the first walk, first words or first time on a bike, but all those little experiences we go through that add to our knowledge of society and ourselves. These first times sometimes come as a shock. Some are not welcome, some are sad. Some create a sense of excitement not yet felt - which is an experience in itself - and others make us wish we had something else to do at the time. What is important is that we do experience these events, feelings, ideas and emotions and that we have a supportive environment and supportive groups in order to learn from them.
School is one of the settings where we experience a particular kind of experience series. School, by its very structure and nature is separated from the rest of the world and therefore allows young people to experience elements of society before suffering 'real' consequences. Students are forever experiencing things for the first time and teachers, such as myself, are often the people who guide them through these periods.
Students and teachers therefore establish a unique experience in society. This relationship is founded on the idea that the teacher has training, qualifications or experience in basically everything that the student will go through during their time at school. This means that although the students may believe that something is a new exprience, the teacher knows that this is merely a new experience of theirs. It's always interesting to see how students react to something you have taught before, but never to them.
I was told in one of my first education lectures at university that "teaching is the only profession where you can be doing the same thing when you retire as you did 40 years ago". Then and now I certainly hope this is not the truth. Oh the subjects names may remain and the content of the study of World War One won't differ much in 40 years time than it did 40 years ago, however now we have the opportunity to give students multiple layers of experience all at once.
Students should be constantly challenged and given the chance to experience new ideas and situtation to train them for future life. There's a first time for everything, and parents and teachers must acknowledge that kids will learn from their 'first times', but that they must experience those first times before they begin to understand the consequences - good or bad.
I believe that during our lives we experience a never ending series of 'first times'. It's not just the first walk, first words or first time on a bike, but all those little experiences we go through that add to our knowledge of society and ourselves. These first times sometimes come as a shock. Some are not welcome, some are sad. Some create a sense of excitement not yet felt - which is an experience in itself - and others make us wish we had something else to do at the time. What is important is that we do experience these events, feelings, ideas and emotions and that we have a supportive environment and supportive groups in order to learn from them.
School is one of the settings where we experience a particular kind of experience series. School, by its very structure and nature is separated from the rest of the world and therefore allows young people to experience elements of society before suffering 'real' consequences. Students are forever experiencing things for the first time and teachers, such as myself, are often the people who guide them through these periods.
Students and teachers therefore establish a unique experience in society. This relationship is founded on the idea that the teacher has training, qualifications or experience in basically everything that the student will go through during their time at school. This means that although the students may believe that something is a new exprience, the teacher knows that this is merely a new experience of theirs. It's always interesting to see how students react to something you have taught before, but never to them.
Students should be constantly challenged and given the chance to experience new ideas and situtation to train them for future life. There's a first time for everything, and parents and teachers must acknowledge that kids will learn from their 'first times', but that they must experience those first times before they begin to understand the consequences - good or bad.
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