Learning From My Students

LEARNING FROM MY STUDENTS

Please tell me that I am not the only one who struggles with the concept of accepting help from those I am supposed to be helping, of being taught by those I am supposed to be teaching. It happens to me on such a regular basis, I should be used to it by now. But, I still have to talk to myself, reminding myself that “it’s okay to not be the expert on everything” when I need help. My need for help often takes the form of technology, which happened last week when I was teaching a parenting class at Rescue The Children. Each system seems to come with its own idiosyncrasies so, no matter how much I know about how to run the audio-visual system in the previous classroom, the system I am using right now is always unique. As one of the students helped me connect cables and wires and speakers, she said, “You’re going to need to learn to do this yourself because I’m starting college next week.”
I felt embarrassed that I am the teacher, yet I can’t even set up the audio-visual system myself. I was tempted to be defensive. But, because I have been humbled by so much technology, I listened, instead, to the voice of God in my heart.
“We are here on earth to learn from one another. If you want these ladies to listen to your words and respect you, you need to listen to their words and respect them, too. You need to model being a good learner.”
So, my response was, “I am watching you carefully. I think I can handle it next week on my own. Thanks for showing me how to set it up!”
Now that wasn’t so hard, was it? (Hope I remember the lesson next time!)
--Posted by Mama O.