Throwing the Parachute

The student looks across the classroom, studying the teacher. This is the first day of school, and the student needs to know as much about his teacher as possible. He has to work hard to capture every detail, every nook and cranny. The teacher is at her desk, not looking up from the paper that she is reading. Her eyes scan over the paper, not sliding up, not once. The teacher hasn't spoken to the student. All he knows about her is this: Her name, and that she teaches this class.

The fact that the student in this scenario is even working hard to know the teacher is a fault in a lot of modern classrooms. The teacher only has one thing in mind; to teach the students, and to only teach the students. Not to love them. 

This time, the teacher's perspective is going to be represented, and I am going to display an entirely different scenario.

The classroom door's handle turns, and the teacher dusts herself. She is very anxious, and has been waiting for this moment. The students will start to pour through her classroom in a second. My students, she thinks with a jolt of excitement. The door opens, and in come the kids. One by one, they file into her classroom, looking around the room for signs of fun. Immediately, the teacher starts showering and peppering the students with information about her. Who she is, her hobbies, her personal life, her pet peeves, fun things about her, etc. In a relatively short period of time, the students know the teacher like they know the backs of their hands. 

Individualizing learning isn't just about knowing the student, a different approach is available as well. If a teacher can throw information out to a group of students like a parachute, a student will be able to be more comfortable in your classroom, and therefore ask you more questions. And the more questions that a student asks a teacher, the more a teacher can get to know a student. So, the more students under the parachute, the better. And if the teacher keeps lifting that parachute every now and then and lets new information seep through, the classroom will be in exemplary, if not perfect shape.

A great example of this was my fourth grade teacher. I always loved her, but I never really figured out why. Now that I am focusing on this topic as much as I am, I have figured out why I was so comfortable in her classroom. She shared practically her whole life with me, her stories, her ups, her downs, the people she loved. She even brought her children into the classroom, and exposed us to her personal life. I absolutely loved her, and I hope that she loved me. 

That's how a relationship between a student and teacher should be. If all is well, then a student should love the teacher as the teacher loves the student. A teacher should always be looking forward to the next class, the next opportunity to see the students that they love. The next parachute to throw. 

In the book ZIGZAG, by Tom Romano, he mentions that he loves to plan his schedule. Romano loves to make his schedule because he loves teaching. He loves his job. He also mentions something in his book. Dr. Witham, Romano's theater teacher, writes a letter to Romano saying, "Teaching is amazing. We go in every day and do our jobs and don't stop to realize we are throwing stones into a pond. And who knows where the ripples will go?"

A teacher should learn to love those ripples. A teacher should be proud that they're creating those ripples. And a teacher should share with those ripples. No matter how far away those ripples go, always keep track of them. Always love them. Embrace the fact that when you are teaching, you are a friend. And friends don't keep to themselves. They share. They share with others, information about themselves. And if a teacher can't do that to they're students, the ripples won't ever go far. They'll just ricochet, and come back.



{"isAjaxInProgress_B001ITX2CA":"0","isAjaxComplete_B001ITX2CA":"0"} Tom Romano (Author) › Visit Amazon's Tom Romano Page Find All the Books, Read about the. "Zigzag: A Life of Reading and Writing, Teaching and Learning (9780325011257): Tom Romano: Books." Amazon.com: Zigzag: A Life of Reading and Writing, Teaching and Learning (9780325011257): Tom Romano: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2017.