This little write up is in response to one of the questions on my TEFL worksheet:
“In my opinion, one of the most important qualities that a teacher must possess is a combination of being lively and enthusiastic and being able to lead her students to an understanding of the subject matter. This leads me back to my seventh grade Language Arts teacher who taught us all a valuable lesson. She used a demonstration of making a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich to show us how important it is to never skip over even what might seem like the simplest step in a process. She stood in the front of the room with a bag of bread, a jar of peanut butter, a jar of jelly, a knife, and a plate. She then told us all to give her instructions on how to make the sandwich. It seemed easy enough to us.
One student said, “Put the bread on the plate.”
So, she picked up the loaf of bread, and placed it on the plate.
The kid then said, “No, no. Open the bag first, then put two pieces of bread on the plate.”
My teacher picked up the bag of bread and ripped open the bag, causing the bread to go all over. This resulted in the entire class exploding in laughter, but, nonetheless, it motivated us more. One can imagine how the rest of the lesson went; it was extremely messy and silly. At the end of the class though, a point had been made; never skip over a step, no matter how obscure or easy it may seem. This goes for teaching as well. In order to make sure that one’s students fully understand a subject, one has to be sure never skip over anything.”
The Educated Momma 