Teacher, Spy, Assassin by Fran Murphy

Author:Fran Murphy [Murphy, Fran]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-07-25T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 38: Institution building

When we got back to Belgrade I went to the school. I was apprehensive that the surgery for Braco may not have gone well. As I got out of my car Braco came bounding out of his basement apartment. He had heard the distinctive sound of the Volkswagen Camper entering the driveway. He threw his arms around me and kept repeating the five or so variants for the expressions for “thanks” in Serbian. Milica came behind him smiling. He told me it went well. The doctor said he can expect to live 15 or more years, now. I was both pleased and relieved that my heavy-handed pressure tactic had succeeded for Braca and his family.

It was time to start this school year.

Petar and Olive had a half day with the new teachers to focus on administrative procedures at the school; pay periods, cashing checks, requesting supplies, fixing things at the apartments, parking, etc.

I had a full day to talk about and demonstrate what we expected in our classroom culture. We believed in challenging students in a caring environment. We wanted our students stretched intellectually, physically, and morally every day. Our goal was to see what a child could accomplish if educated optimally. Our purpose was to cause a mutation in the species by creating a thirst among our students for the endless pursuit of intellectual, moral, and physical achievements. All of this dealt with the “challenge” aspect of who we were. We would challenge our students while surrounding them in a warm caring atmosphere.

The caring aspect had few boundaries. We needed a tiny professional distance. We were teachers, not parents, but we needed to provide unconditional positive regard. We needed to be the student’s safe place. We were the people who watched and listened intently with a twinkle in our eyes. We were looking with kindness to see who these young people were, and then taking amusement and pleasure in their unique personhood. We wanted to know them, and then to value what we knew. We were to be their rock.

Discipline, knowledge, and goodness were our end products. The teacher had joined a temple of learning. Their act, the act of teaching, was serious and holy. We would not permit this sacred act to be besmirched.

We spent a full day on these concepts. We talked about it. We gave examples, and I demonstrated both through my presentation, and my teaching methods that day, how we expected this work to be done.

We taught our students a problem-solving model and repeatedly teased students with problems. The students were to resolve the problem by using the problem-solving method in groups, pursue solutions, and publish their findings. We established compelling problems and coached the students on how to apply the problem-solving method. We were an information source, but that was not our major function. We were master learners and therefore, learning coaches.

World-class teachers pose world-class problems. They demand world-class solutions and, in the process, teach world-class skills. They do this in an information-rich environment that encourages collaboration.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.