Trying to Understand

In Things I Will Never Understand from TJ on a Journey, TJ Shay states,

“Our job is to TEACH and if the learning doesn't take, we reteach. Blame doesn't do anyone any good. Many times, in my career, I have talked to a student and tried to get to the bottom of why they are acting the way they are....if you haven't done it, you would be amazed at what a difference that can make. Failure of a student is often a direct result of failure as a teacher/parent/adult.” And also, “When people are clearly wrong, why don't they just say they are, apologize, and move on?”

Reading this made me want to cheer. Here is a teacher who really “gets it”! Too many times I’m in the company of a group of teachers who want to stand around and complain about the students, the parents, the school, the district or the system. Of course there are plenty of non-teachers who hear this too and it is no wonder that they have no faith in our system. I once had a principal who told me that I shouldn’t waste time blaming people and use my time and energy into working to solve the problem. I really have tried to stick to this philosophy and wish others could too.

Source : http://successfulteaching.blogspot.com