“Fear keeps your achievements unrealized, hidden from yourself and the world. Love will set them free.” –Ralph Marston
“Are you afraid?” That’s the question I was asked when first interviewing for the Louisiana Teaching Fellows program. A wonderful principal asked me this because the program recruited teachers for the “toughest inner city schools” in Baton Rouge. I never even thought to be afraid. Afraid of what? That question could be answered in two ways. I could potentially be afraid of my self—doubting my abilities, feeling unworthy of the task, etc. I’m sure, though, she wanted to know if I was afraid of teaching “those kids” who are often perceived as loud, ghetto, uncontrollable, violent, dangerous, and… unteachable. It never occurred to me to be scared because I was too busy loving. I’m kin to my students. I am my students.
I had tea today with a couple who went through the teaching program with me, so teaching has been on my mind. I hiked a steep learning curve my first year, but here are some truths I’ve picked up along the way from personal experience, fellow teachers, books, and most I already knew from the life I lived before teaching. They’re numbered, but not ranked.
1) “Fear keeps [my students’] achievements unrealized, hidden from [everyone]. Love will set them free.”
2) Students sense fear. When they act out in response to our fear of them, it’s probably to inflict pain similar to the pain they feel knowing that someone feared them without even knowing them. Also, they’ll take being feared over being threatened. Society has taught them that those who are feared stand a better chance of survival.
3) Every child is beautiful and BRILLIANT!!! But most importantly, they need to know it, and they need to know that I know it.
4) There’s no such thing as a student who “just doesn’t want to learn.” Students may not want to learn what we want to teach them, but they want to learn something.
5) I must be a student of my students, learning ways to best serve them. Teaching is not about me, so I scale my ego down to size. Teaching is not about my subject, so I dismiss the notion of sacred texts. No book, no curriculum, no standard could ever trump the sacredness of my children’s humanity.
6) I must love my students for who they are right now rather than for who formal education conditions them to be. I mustn’t tell them they can be somebody some day. I must show them they are somebody right now. Even if they have tattoos, gold teeth, or purple hair. Yes, even those things make them special.
7) The world cannot afford to lose out on my students. The world needs each of them to be productive citizens who know, live, and share their value daily.
I’m fallible, so maybe this list is incomplete or incorrect. What would you add? What would you cut or change?
What’s in your hand?
How will you use it to learn and teach?
With love, from Sarah L. Webb
I really enjoyed reading your article. The statements are very true. If a students senses fear in you, then you have just handed them the power over you, your lesson, and that classroom. They even allowed that same fear to somehow hinder their learning. I feel that every student has the ability to learn and grasp concepts. As an educator, it is my job to execute the lesson and elicit the best possible outcomes in each and every one of my students. If they see that you have given up on them, then they will more than likely give up on themselves. FEAR to me if Facing Every Adversary Readily. Most students are taught to be feared. Let’s teach them to be fearless…of success, of obtaining an education, of a bright future, and of all that life has to offer them. Again, great article!!
“Most students are taught to be feared. Let’s teach them to be fearless…”
Wow! I LOVE that! Thanks so much for adding your incredible insight.
Ummmm… AWESOME!
“There’s no such thing as a student who “just doesn’t want to learn.” Students may not want to learn what we want to teach them, but they want to learn something.”
This is clutch! Because I sat through professional development and required courses in college where I did not want to learn, I was not motivated to be there. But, I have also sat through classes where I did want to learn, and I am very certain that my disposition in these two different settings severely impacted the way I was taught AND the way I retained the information being taught to me. Truly:
“If you do not live for something, you will die for anything”— If we give students a reason to “live” in the sense that life is learning, then they won’t be so easily tricked and deceived by the many distractions out there.
muahz!!
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