In article ,
Larry Jaques wrote:

I feel blessed to have had an educated and loving family behind me to
prop me up through several nastyass teaching experiences, including
the metal brace one teacher mandated that I use in my left hand (since
I was left handed.) One full school-day of crying + coming home in
tears put an end to that. Mom ripped her a new asshole.

Good on Mom!


I also had a few -real- teachers in my life, those who taught me to
want to learn and how to do so. [Thanks Ms. Hankins (2nd grade) and
Mr. Downs (high school civics) for your love and support.]

The very first thing a pupil should hear is: "You can learn. Learning is
one of the things people do best. Learning can be slower or faster for
some people, but everyone can learn and learning is fun. So let's get
curious!"

I had the pleasure (?) of being assigned to tutor a fellow student in
high school. Skip was considered slow. Maybe so, but he was also
thorough. In three weeks he learned enough to pass his final exam in
French with a low A. Since French was what would prevent him graduating,
we both felt really good about that. The very first thing I said to Skip
was: "You can learn this, it's just another way of talking." Turned out
the whole problem was he didn't do well in a classroom setting, but
glommed onto it one-on-one like he was born in France. Slow? I don't
think slow so much as needing a different way of learning that
particular thing.

I got a contract once from the VA to teach a guy basic blacksmithing and
metalwork. He was very interested, but also very hard on himself. He
seemed to think he should be able to perfect every manual skill in one
try. Finally had to tell him:" I said to do, not to do well the first
time. Do each skill many times. Well will come. One day you'll pick and
use the right technique without consciously thinking about it -- and
you'll laugh at yourself over how it will surprise you."