Hole in the Wall

“How is present day schooling going to prepare them?" - Sugata Mitra

In Sugata Mitra’s Ted Talk, he speaks about how to allow students to learn. Students by nature want to do well. They want to succeed. Most of all they want to grow! He states “Learning is about “not making it happen, but letting it happen.” If we allow students to let learning happen, the world is in their hands! That sad truth is many teachers get in the way. Many teachers without even the knowledge hinder a child’s learning because of one simple thing. The way they respond to students. One of the my favorite quotes from Sugata Mitra’s Ted Talk is that "schools as we know them are obsolete….schools as we know them are not broken. It’s wonderfully constructed. It’s just that we don’t need it anymore.”

“Encouragement is the key!”

I have often heard it said before that “you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.”  While this is true when trying to gain something, it is also true when it comes to student success. Ask any teacher! Just incase you do not want to, I will provide one teacher’s insight. Comments such as “why don’t you know this?” “maybe you should have paid attention and you would understand the lesson” “If you fail, sorry you fail. I did my duty” GETS NOWHERE FOR EVERYONE!  Now, if I sat here and acted as if I have never had this thought, I would be lying. Everyone has had a thought such as those, but what is important is the action taken. Is it easy to get frustrated? YES! Would it being easier to just give up? ABSOLUTELY! Who good would you be doing if you responded this way? NONE! Students are people and sometimes it has hard to remember that. Just like the rest of the world, they need positive reinforcement, encouragement, and most of all belief in them!