The Classroom

Hot on the heels of last weeks post, I have a poser for you.  Should teachers (especially in the public systems) be involved in the formal teaching of Character and/or Moral education?  Where does the duty of the teacher end and the parent begin?

To start off, I do know that Character and Moral education are two different topics.  But I’ve heard arguments saying that we should (or shouldn’t) be teaching one or the other or both.  Character Education tends to deal with personal traits (sometimes called pillars) that we as a society find desirable in people: Trustworthiness, Honesty, Perseverance, Respect, Fairness, Citizenship, etc.  Moral education is when we add value judgments to the equation, this is right or wrong.  In some cases this isn’t seen as a problem (don’t hit Billy, that’s wrong, or Apartheid was a horrible thing).  In others, like the topics of homosexualism or abortion, this can become a huge issue.  But when/where do we draw the line? Read the rest of this entry »

I’m one of those bloggers who loves to check his stats. I look at them all the time. I like to see where people who view my site are from, what pages they look at, and what brings them to my blog in the first place. It never ceases to amaze me however, that people from all over the world are drawn to my site on a routine basis due to the same keyword search: “What makes a good teacher?”

Now I actually find that funny, as I only ever did one post on the subject, and with the exception of the four initial comments, no one has ever decided to add their voice to the discussion. But I get many hits each week with people looking for the answer. Sorry folks, there is no right answer. Everybody learns differently, and so a good teacher is different for each student. That’s not to say that there aren’t some commonalities that can be found in most good teachers, but we have to remember that “it takes different strokes to move the world”.

Knowing that it takes many different types of teachers to reach the many different types of students, I have to ask – what exactly is it that teachers do? Why are we here? Read the rest of this entry »

Almost 10 years ago a spoken song from a Baz Lurman Album, Something For Everybody, was all the rage. “Everybody’s Free (to wear sunscreen)” told us of the value of taking time for ourselves and staying positive in life. Good advice comes at us from many places and at many points in our lives. I remember being a first year teacher – fresh out of an internship in a Behaviour Assistance program and rewriting the lyrics of “Everybody’s Free” for some student teachers who I had befriended, and who were having a hard time. I don’t know if that helped any of them, I mean really, what did I know – I was barely out of my teaching diapers myself – but I still give that reworked song to each student teacher I get. Read the rest of this entry »

I love stand up comedians. I think that’s why I let class clowns get away with so much. As long as they know when to stop (I know, that rarely happens…) I let the jokes fly. I was once told by a very concerned Librarian that my class couldn’t be learning anything. They were laughing too much. I took that as a complement.

I often considered trying my own hand at stand up – but I know I don’t have the gift for it. But if I did – this would be one of my first bits – it’s funny because it’s true. Read the rest of this entry »

I think this is got to be one of the toughest questions a teacher can try to answer, but one of the most important. Everyone has a different way of reaching their students, of bringing the best out of them.

Some are stern task masters, driving their students to be the best they can be. I’ve had teachers like that – and I learned a lot in their class. Sometimes is was because they pushed me along, other times it was so I could show them I was better than they thought – either way it was effective motivation.

Then there are the nurturers. The “parent” figures. The ones who cared for you, and would help you feel good about yourself no matter what you did. The ones you would move heaven and earth for because that look of disappointment when something went wrong was a fate worse than death. Read the rest of this entry »