The purpose of this blog is create a "teachable moment" at the Shabbat table. Please print and share.
Here's the question on my mind this week, I wonder how you and your table would answer it:
What's greater - the joy of a child engaged in and loving learning?
Or the pain of a child disengaged, bored and hating school?
That joy of learning can be one of the greatest highs.
But that pain of ennui can be so devastating.
OK, what if you had the following choice:
You are going to take two required courses. You can either have one that is amazing and takes you to the moon every class while the other is so dreadful you'd rather they submit you to the Medieval rack than have to sit through another one;
Or... you could take two classes that are average - neither particularly inspiring nor particularly boring.
Which would you choose?
In the first scenario, would the amazing class make up for the horrible one, or would the horrible negate the life-changing spirit of the amazing one?
At about this time of year, when I was headed off to college for the first time, my grandfather of blessed memory took me aside and said, "I have one word of advice for you for college."
I thought, "Fantastic, this is going to be one of those memorable moments that I'll tell my own children about and maybe I'll even blog about it one day (once blogs are invented)!"
"One word?"
"One word: don't take classes."
OK, that was three words, but I was far worried about the content of the message than I was about my grandfather's number sense. Perhaps this was not a senior moment, perhaps there was going to be a punchline. I waited.
And the punchline came: "Take teachers."
"You see," he explained, "You could take the most interesting class with a boring teacher, and learn nothing. And you could take what you think is the most uninteresting class with an excellent teacher, and you'll learn everything."
That advice made a lot of sense and I'm happy to say that I followed it most of the time in all of the places that I have studied since then. And I continue to do so.
What's greater - the joy of a child engaged in and loving learning?
Or the pain of a child disengaged, bored and hating school?
That joy of learning can be one of the greatest highs.
But that pain of ennui can be so devastating.
OK, what if you had the following choice:
You are going to take two required courses. You can either have one that is amazing and takes you to the moon every class while the other is so dreadful you'd rather they submit you to the Medieval rack than have to sit through another one;
Or... you could take two classes that are average - neither particularly inspiring nor particularly boring.
Which would you choose?
In the first scenario, would the amazing class make up for the horrible one, or would the horrible negate the life-changing spirit of the amazing one?
At about this time of year, when I was headed off to college for the first time, my grandfather of blessed memory took me aside and said, "I have one word of advice for you for college."
I thought, "Fantastic, this is going to be one of those memorable moments that I'll tell my own children about and maybe I'll even blog about it one day (once blogs are invented)!"
"One word?"
"One word: don't take classes."
OK, that was three words, but I was far worried about the content of the message than I was about my grandfather's number sense. Perhaps this was not a senior moment, perhaps there was going to be a punchline. I waited.
And the punchline came: "Take teachers."
"You see," he explained, "You could take the most interesting class with a boring teacher, and learn nothing. And you could take what you think is the most uninteresting class with an excellent teacher, and you'll learn everything."
That advice made a lot of sense and I'm happy to say that I followed it most of the time in all of the places that I have studied since then. And I continue to do so.
Two final questions for your table:
1. What are some of the things that great teachers do that makes them great?
2. What can you do when you have no alternative to the poor teacher? When your child has no alternative?
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