My many years spent in teaching have taught me that a teacher's enthusiasm is a vital element. As Benjamin Franklin said, "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."
I once encountered a young man who was entirely resistant to learning. He sat on the sidelines of my small arena and flatly refused to try, or even to try to try, the activity that I was teaching.
My every invitation to him was met with an impassive shrug ... until I asked him to select a color from among the many colorful felt tip pens in my hands. He only barely obliged me, but he picked one.
As soon as he touched that pen I could tell that I had him. He had responded to me! When I asked him for an idea about where to place that pen on the robot I was building he pointed to a spot on it.
Slowly, eventually, he began to choose pieces from the pile of paper, pens, plastic cups, and motors that lay before him. He'd choose a piece, and I taped it into place. Together, we built a motorized robot, (see photo above), that drew an abstract image as it moved.
And then, he asked me if he could build one by himself! "Sure," I said. "Go for it." I moved on to help others at the table with their projects, clandestinely keeping an eye on that one young man.
When he was done with his robot, I laid out a sheet of paper for him to place it on. We uncapped the pens, started the motor, and his robot drew decorative lines. He got to keep the robot's artwork.
Earlier this year I wrote a ten-part series titled, A key to writing in rhyme: to inspire would-be rhymers, and to involve them, (possibly you), by teaching one tried and true method of writing poetry.
The problem with this approach to teaching, for all my enthusiasm, is that the remoteness of the teacher allows for passive learning wherein one is merely told, rather than being involved in, the lesson.
And yet, I learned how to compose verse by emulating outstanding poets who had passed on their knowledge, before passing on passed away ages ago. I emulation their the works that they left behind.
So, it can be done, this notion of involving others from a distance. In any event, their poems, and my series, are available to all who would, evenly remotely, apply them .. like that young man who built a robot.
Image: funny-pictures.picphotos.net
I once encountered a young man who was entirely resistant to learning. He sat on the sidelines of my small arena and flatly refused to try, or even to try to try, the activity that I was teaching.
My every invitation to him was met with an impassive shrug ... until I asked him to select a color from among the many colorful felt tip pens in my hands. He only barely obliged me, but he picked one.
As soon as he touched that pen I could tell that I had him. He had responded to me! When I asked him for an idea about where to place that pen on the robot I was building he pointed to a spot on it.
Slowly, eventually, he began to choose pieces from the pile of paper, pens, plastic cups, and motors that lay before him. He'd choose a piece, and I taped it into place. Together, we built a motorized robot, (see photo above), that drew an abstract image as it moved.
And then, he asked me if he could build one by himself! "Sure," I said. "Go for it." I moved on to help others at the table with their projects, clandestinely keeping an eye on that one young man.
When he was done with his robot, I laid out a sheet of paper for him to place it on. We uncapped the pens, started the motor, and his robot drew decorative lines. He got to keep the robot's artwork.
Earlier this year I wrote a ten-part series titled, A key to writing in rhyme: to inspire would-be rhymers, and to involve them, (possibly you), by teaching one tried and true method of writing poetry.
The problem with this approach to teaching, for all my enthusiasm, is that the remoteness of the teacher allows for passive learning wherein one is merely told, rather than being involved in, the lesson.
And yet, I learned how to compose verse by emulating outstanding poets who had passed on their knowledge, before passing on passed away ages ago. I emulation their the works that they left behind.
So, it can be done, this notion of involving others from a distance. In any event, their poems, and my series, are available to all who would, evenly remotely, apply them .. like that young man who built a robot.
Image: funny-pictures.picphotos.net
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