Her name was Mrs. Thompson and his was 'Teddy'. As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children a lie. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. But that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard. Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he didn't play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. And Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big "F" at the top of his papers. At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise. Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners ... he is a joy to be around." His second grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle." His third grade teacher wrote, "His mother's death had been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken." Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class". By now, Mrs Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag. Mrs Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, "Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to." After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, and writing, and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her "teacher's pets." A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs.Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had in his whole life. Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favourite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer - The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD. The story doesn't end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he'd met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit in the place at the wedding that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. And she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together. They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs.Thompson's ear, "Thank you, Mrs. Thompson, for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference." Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, "Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you." This article has been posted by Prof Maznah in ADEC. I am just want to share it with my friends who are not study in this course. This story makes me realize how important teacher is in students’ life. As teacher is the second important agent of socializations after parents, we should play our role seriously. As globalization is changing rapidly, we should prepare our selves with this matter. Children are very naïve. They just can see only from their perspective. So, we as a teacher need to help them by giving our support and not condemning them. It is important because children’s nature to be loved and they easily sensitive if someone scold them. For me, scolding and punishment are not suitable to be applied unless you have set the positive punishment for them. In conclusion, this is depends on us to create our children and students plus make difference in their life. Whether it is a good improvement or a bad improvement, the answers are in you.Mrs. Thompson and Teddy
salamafter reading this story,it made me ponderam i wanna be a Teddy?who has strong intention n spirit never give upcan i be like him?am i d Teddy?or am i wanna be a teacher like Teddy's teacher?who inspired Teddy 2 become someonecan i be like her or just be myselfcan i inspired someone until he/she become a Teddyno matter which 1 i am, i know that it is x 2 late for us 2 become Teddy and Mrs Thompson
I was late entering the classroom. So, I have missed the group presentation. The topic for the presentation was
“As a teacher, how do you promote the usage of the school computer lab. Choose 2 or more than 2 activities which are suitable in teaching and learning in the classroom/computer lab. The presentation is based on group work.”
Students nowadays are lucky because the government has built many school computer lab for each school. When I was in primary school, I even do not know what e-mail is. Believe it or not, I tried to find the word in the dictionary but it was not there. So, as the government has spent a lot of $$$, the school should use it wisely. When questioned has been asked to the school, they said teachers are not capable enough to use it in their teaching and learning process. However, the government has taken action in order to solve this problem. They have sent teachers for the in-service course regarding on developing their technology skill. Hence, teachers can apply what they have learnt while they attend to the course. For me, I am very lucky because in this sem, I have technology in primary school subject. I have learnt many things regarding on how to integrate technology in my lesson.
Beseides, it is a waste if teacher not use the computer lab. This is because the computer lab is complete with the equipments. So, teacher should take this opportunity because it can give students new experience in learning. Yet, it may vary the lesson as well as it can make the lesson better.
As for example, teacher can use internet to teach English. The computer lab has this kind of help as teacher can surf the net in order to find good and suitable online activities. Many online activities can be found in the net. It provides many advantages to teacher and students.
Fish philosophy??? A fish has a philosophy??? That was the first impression after I heard about it. So, is that mean a crab, a cat and etc also has a philosophy. Erm, I am wondering what is fish philosophy is all about. After Prof Maznah gave this article, http://www.charthouse.com/content.aspx?nodeid=1066, I was quite clear what fish philosophy is. A fish philosophy is a skill that provides the process, tools and language to generate the skills necessary to design a workplace full of inspiration, creativity and innovation.
WHY IT IS CALLED FISH PHILOSOPHY?
On a visit to Seattle, Christensen observed how animated and happy the employees at
Christensen realized that not only were the workers making a routine errand fun for themselves and their customers, they also were selling tons of fish. He constructed the FISH! Philosophy from his observations of
§ Play
§ Make Their Day
§ Be there
§ Choose Your Attitude
I started to like this philosophy. This is because I think it is very suitable to be applied in the classroom. As a teacher, be there is important as it shows our concern towards our students’ learning. We have to support and guide them because they need us a guider. Pupils believe that teacher is everything for them. They even will refuse to listen to their mother’s advice if their teacher asks them to do something. By being there, it makes me realize how important for a teacher in order to make students interested with their learning as well as acquire the knowledge.
Children love to play. Unconsciously, actually children do not come to the English language classroom empty handed. They bring with them an already well-established set of instincts, skills and characteristics which help them to learn another language. For example, children take great pleasure in finding and creating fun in what they do. So, what we as a teacher can do in order to make them play and keep on feel excited to learn.
• Keep a sense of playfulness and fun.
• Avoid drill and rote memorization.
• Use group setting to encourage interaction among children.
• Encourage children curiosity about language and experiment with language and print.
Teacher must not have sense of bias or favourite students. Treat them equally as it makes them feel they are not isolated by their teacher. Students like teacher pay more attention to them as they believe their teacher cares and love them. Teacher is important in order to make their day bright and not gloomy.
As teacher, we have to choose our attitude. This is because we must portray a good example to our students. Pupils will make their teacher as their role model. If we portray bad attitudes towards them, the fish philosophy cannot be applied as the practices are not complete.
