gillpolack @ 2013-06-19T22:04:00
I have been persuaded that all my friends need to know an important morsel of information.
As part of a review of what my wonderful Wednesday students wanted from a teacher (an informal thing, for I thought it would be handy, given we've got a few new students and I have life changes and we've been together seven years) all my students discussed their needs ie what they wanted from their writing teacher.
Last week we talked about the specific subjects. That wasn't so useful, because they wanted everything. Science and geology and history and grammar and word knowledge and different forms of poetry and other key aspects of creative writing. That's why they had to do some thinking about it and research on it for homework, and we revisited the question this week. Though last week one student summarised it as "All the things we're learning now, really," which was reassuring.
Anyhow, most of the list of top level stuff my students want from their teacher is less to do with subject matter and more to do with teaching skill and understanding of student needs, which was really cool. They came out with a dream list for teacher instruction.
There was, however, one item at the top of the list. It stood out. It was a little...different.
"Quintessence." I asked what they meant by that and the dictionary was quoted at me. Two of my students would have given me a full etymology, if I hadn't stopped them to ask, "But what do you mean by quintessence?"
It turns out that there is a simple, popular definition of 'quintessence.' Evil Gillian. Evil Gillian is the quintessential aspect of teaching. Bad jokes and all.
Blame Sharyn for this anecdote, which I was going to keep to myself. My students already have their just reward for admiring Evil Gillian, for she gave them extra homework this week.
As part of a review of what my wonderful Wednesday students wanted from a teacher (an informal thing, for I thought it would be handy, given we've got a few new students and I have life changes and we've been together seven years) all my students discussed their needs ie what they wanted from their writing teacher.
Last week we talked about the specific subjects. That wasn't so useful, because they wanted everything. Science and geology and history and grammar and word knowledge and different forms of poetry and other key aspects of creative writing. That's why they had to do some thinking about it and research on it for homework, and we revisited the question this week. Though last week one student summarised it as "All the things we're learning now, really," which was reassuring.
Anyhow, most of the list of top level stuff my students want from their teacher is less to do with subject matter and more to do with teaching skill and understanding of student needs, which was really cool. They came out with a dream list for teacher instruction.
There was, however, one item at the top of the list. It stood out. It was a little...different.
"Quintessence." I asked what they meant by that and the dictionary was quoted at me. Two of my students would have given me a full etymology, if I hadn't stopped them to ask, "But what do you mean by quintessence?"
It turns out that there is a simple, popular definition of 'quintessence.' Evil Gillian. Evil Gillian is the quintessential aspect of teaching. Bad jokes and all.
Blame Sharyn for this anecdote, which I was going to keep to myself. My students already have their just reward for admiring Evil Gillian, for she gave them extra homework this week.
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