Be the person you needed

There’s a meme floating around online at the moment, sometime attributed to that fabulous writer “Unknown” and sometimes to former BuzzFeed writer Ayesha A. Siddiqi that says “Be the personyou needed when you were younger”.  Now, I’m not one to go crazy over these “inspirational” quotes that pop up on my facebook and Instagram feeds, but this one did make me think (so much so that it’s actually my current screen saver).

Have you ever thought “why didn’t someone ever tell me this?” or “why didn’t I know this before?”.  Most of the time in life we learn through our mistakes.  And that’s a good thing.  But sometimes, just sometimes, wouldn’t it be nice to have had a little bit of wisdom imparted from someone who’s been there, done that?

Chances are, if there is something you needed when you were younger, then one of your students will also need that.

Today I was teaching a Year 10 high school music class and one of the students was clearly upset.  I thought back to when I was in Year 10.  14 years old is a time I would never want to repeat.  And I went through my fair share of horrible times.  Mostly, I just wanted to be left alone and to sort things through in my own way, but I would have liked an adult to have acknowledged that I was upset or worried, rather than just have the attitude “oh, it’s just a silly teenage thing.”

 Bearing this in mind, I treated the student as I wanted to be treated.  Quietly, away from the rest of the class I whispered to her “You ok?”.  She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.  I said “I’m good at listening if you want to talk?”  She shook her head again and started to walk away.  Then she turned back to me and said “Thanks”.  She knew that I knew. She felt acknowledged.  And I had been the person she needed at that time and the person I would have needed in her situation.

This can apply to your teaching too.  My teacher never taught me about the value of scales.  Now, I make sure my students know why we learn scales.  Did you ever feel underprepared for a performance or exam?  Make sure your students don’t feel the same.  Did you need encouragement to take a risk with the emotion of the song you were singing?  Did you feel your teacher never understood your career ambitions? 

What are some of the ways you can be that person for your students?

P.S. Posts will be limited to Mondays only for the next couple of months.  I'm heading off overseas to live and so am a bit pre-occupied!  I'll be back regularly as soon as I've settled in to live in Japan :)