As teachers of depth, our currency is trust: the student’s trust that we are acting in their best interest, and the student’s trust that our words and actions are largely consistent.
Follow through is not simply a matter of acting as we say we will, or of acknowledging and addressing our lapses when we have them. It is also a matter of refraining from promising or implying action when we are unlikely to follow through. Part of our practice as teachers is to observe ourselves, to see how we bring forth our stated intent. To be aware of ourselves as we are, not as we think we should be or wish we were.
When we teach, we provide our students with past and future continuity, connecting them and their world to the study. When we ask the student to do something in support of the study, we often imply our own action in return. We sketch a shared future. If we fail to make that future manifest, the student’s understanding of us as teachers, of themselves as students, and of the study as worthwhile are all affected.
The currency of trust is best served when we do more and promise less.
As teachers, everything we do demonstrates how we believe a teacher can and should behave. When we do not follow through, our students learn, but perhaps not what we intend them to.
We all have such lapses from time to time, in small or large ways. The key is to notice what we promise, to see how students understand our words, and to attend to the way we complete beginnings.
My offered practice: Watch yourself when you speak. What do you promise or imply? Watch your student. How do they understand your intent?
In college I took a theatre history course taught by a visiting professor from Hungary. He asked us to submit plays we had written for him to read casually. So I did. After a few weeks I asked him for feedback, he avoided responding. After a few more weeks I saw him between classes walking down a hallway; when he saw me (and another playwright buddy (walking in his direction) he turned and quickly shuffled away. I never got any response from him on what he had asked me to do. Strange experience, and I still think about it when I ask my students for their work to review outside of class. It’s important that we follow through with our promises.
Kevin, thank you for sharing this. Most of us have had similar mysterious encounters with others, but when this happens with our teachers, from who we are attempting to take direction and who we may respect and admire, it can be very hard on us indeed. Inevitably we speculate, and the speculation can take dark form.
As it happened with you, when our teachers fail to follow through, we often remember keenly. Now that you are a teacher yourself and know the costs this sort of failure can have, this (inadvertent) lesson may serve your own students well.
yeah this is necessary for every field to follow otherwise this is not possible to take benefits of efforts