Quote:
Originally Posted by TheSquealer
The Finnish example is also used in that book and another - The Talent Code which is also a great book on excelling and learning.
I had a teacher in my gym that was pretty lazy. Actually very lazy. It was group classes - Crossfit type training and there was maybe 40 people in the group. I slowly shifted from playful banter and joking around to push her to just saying "look, if you aren't going to push yourself or make an effort, you can't be helped". She stopped and looked at me and said "everyone's best is different". I was floored. First, the superintendent of her school district was also in the same group working out. This woman is feared by all the teachers and we had a lot of them because of our location, referrals etc. I said something like "your best... are we seeing your best right now?" and she started explaining that everyone has different abilities and has to be treated differently etc etc etc and I told her "everyone rises to the expectations you set for them and demand of them" and she started arguing that I didn't know anything. I stopped the music and told her that I was deeply offended... not because she was lazy and didn't even pretend to try, because I saw that often, but because she was a teacher.
What baffled me most though was how she could be employed as a teacher with her attitude AND talk like this in front of the one person that has to ultimately decide whether or not she has a job in her school district or not.
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She is correct in that everyone's best is different, however, the question is are those people actually doing their best and it sounds like that is not the case with her. Figuring out what someones best is and then pushing them to achieve it is a challenge and a talent.
I had a history teacher in high school that was terrible. Mon-Thurs he would sit and read the chapter from the book to us and let us take notes. On Friday there was a test about that chapter and you could use your notes. It took my buddy and I a few weeks and we figured out all he was doing on the test was hitting the sections in the book that were highlighted or in bold. So you could go through your book, make notes of those areas and ace the test and you could just zone out all week and not pay attention.
Somehow he had been teaching for 30 years. I can say honestly I don't remember one thing from that class that has anything to do with history.
That book you mention sounds interesting. I'll have to check it out.