Enthusiasm, Involvement and Confidence in Teachers
By John Taylor; 2007 Nov 10, 07 Qudrat, 164 BE
Yesterday we talked about the need for enthusiasm on the part of teachers, especially Baha'i teachers. "The teaching of the Cause has always called for wisdom, devotion, enthusiasm, purity of intention and eloquence of speech." (Developing Distinctive Baha'i Communities). For this reason I have long believed that the progress of the Baha'i Faith would best be served by the establishment of a speaker's circuit serving each Baha'i community, no matter how rural or how urban it may be. The following, from a document commissioned by the Universal House of Justice, seems to confirm the crying need for such an initiative,
"The friends everywhere need encouragement. Regular gatherings, at various levels, need to be held to maintain and heighten their enthusiasm for teaching." (Training Institutes, April, 1998)
Yesterday we looked at some of the advice that mathematician John Mighton gives to math tutors in his JUMP program (Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies). He started off with this by getting volunteers to tutor those students who were having trouble keeping up in class. Later, when he had enough experience with one-on-one lessons, Mighton took his program to the classroom where he found it works even better in a group setting.
"The effect is particularly striking with students who have never had a chance to show off in public. After the first week of lessons in one class that I visited regularly, a child who had been diagnosed as a selective mute and another who had never raised his hand in class both actively took part in class and always had their hands up. In any class that I have taught for more than a week or two I have generally been able to get every student to participate in lessons." (Mighton, End of Ignorance, pp. 188-189)
What teachers like Mighton and indeed the "collaborators" in the Baha'i Institute method are recognizing is that universal participation is not an abstract ideal, it is an extremely effective way to learn. Learning by its very nature harmoniously combines theory with practice. Unity between practicality and theory is one of the great secrets of the scientific method, as historian of science Jacob Bronowski pointed out,
"The world can only be grasped by action, not contemplation ... The hand is the cutting edge of the mind." (Ascent of Man, Little, Brown, 1973)
I think the equivalent to "practice" in teaching religion is prayer. Prayer is conversation with God, and you can talk about God (a study known as theology) forever, but it all amounts to a kind of gossip and backbiting, talking about a third party behind his back. Worse, He is right there, ready and willing to talk with us. Theology is a vile thing because it talks about the One we could be conversing with intimately. So, to teach the Faith, get your hands "dirty" and say a prayer with a non-Baha'i, as Book One of the Ruhi program prescribes. Do that, and later in Book Six, when it starts talking about "being" rather than "doing," it will not be such a great mystery.
Anyway, back to John Mighton. He suggests eleven questions to ask oneself as soon as one starts leaving students behind. Some of his questions are relevant only to teaching math, but the following eight seem to fit almost every teaching situation, including Ruhi coordinators and other teachers of the Baha'i Faith.
Am I being careful to isolate the most basic steps in the operations?
Am I teaching one step at a time and allowing enough repetition?
Am I expecting my students to learn or remember things that are not relevant to the steps I am trying to teach?
Am I building momentum in my lessons by allowing all of my students to succeed?
Am I giving sufficient encouragement?
Am I spending extra time with my weaker students and giving them extra practice?
Am I excited about my students’ progress?
Do I believe that all of my students can learn mathematics?
The last question is, I think, the most important. Do I really believe that Baha'u'llah came to all humanity, and that each of us is capable of responding to Him? It would be self contradictory for one without faith to try to teach faith. If I as a believer cannot summon up a convincing demonstration of confidence in the power of religion, how can I teach religion? No, it goes beyond that, the Master taught that confidence was the great benefit of religion itself,
"Until it becomes effective, penetrating and interpenetrating hearts and spirits, and until perfect, reasoning faith shall be implanted in the minds of men, it will be impossible for the social body to be inspired with security and confidence." (Abdu'l-Baha, Promulgation, 321)
And if you look at the present lack of response to the climate crisis, in spite of more than enough means to avoid carbon emissions, that is all it boils down to, lack of confidence, a sense that effort is useless. Religion is all about hope and confidence, and as teachers we have to start with confidence that this job can be done. Let me end with two more admonitions to confidence, from the Master and the Guardian respectively,
"Walk, therefore, with a sure step and engage with the utmost assurance and confidence in the promulgation of the divine fragrances, the glorification of the Word of God and firmness in the Covenant." (Abdu'l-Baha, Selections, 209)
". . . The Baha'i teacher must be all confidence. Therein lies his strength and the secret of his success." (
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