Have you ever read the book, If You Give a Mouse A Cookie? If you have not read this book, you have probably heard people say, “If you give people an inch, they will take mile.” This concept is true in many cases; however, I would like you for a moment to invert this popular saying and consider the opposite occurrence. What if you gave a mile, and people only moved an inch? Wouldn’t this be just as frustrating?
If you are a teacher, you know the amount of work you need to put into your job day in and day out. You may go the extra mile, and your students may only progress an inch. You may run a marathon and jump around the classroom doing calisthenics to make your lessons more interesting and engaging, and your students may not move at all. In fact, they may not even be fazed by your out of character behavior. (Well for some of us, this is our “normal” behavior.)
One of my education professors told me that students are like hinges. We as teachers move students in different directions. But what if students refuse to move? We can model good behavior and how to treat others with respect. We can show our students how excited we are about our subject and why it is important to learn. Teachers are responsible to reach every student, but some students are definitely harder to reach than others. What do you do about the student who won’t say spit in your class? What do you do for the perpetually grouchy student who hates every single one of your lessons?
What are you willing to do to help someone learn?
A teacher is a compass that activates the magnets of curiosity, knowledge, and wisdom in the pupils.
-- Ever Garrison
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