By Dotan Yarden,
TAP Teen at BZBI
Our goal as educators is to create an accepting and motivational environment that helps children learn and flourish. Learning is voluntary. Being taught does not necessarily mean someone is learning, and the best way to make sure people are learning is to get them to want to learn. I know that I have learned more in classes when the teacher was nice and encouraging.
Just last week I was sitting in English class, confused about what to do and when I asked for help my teacher told me that this was “simple stuff”. This only made me angry, frustrated and unmotivated. I also found myself on the other end of this situation the other day wile teaching in a Hebrew school class. I have become so used to this behavior that I did not even realize how degrading it was until I suffered the insult. All I could think about for the rest of the period was how much I wanted to get out of there. I wish all my teachers could have gone through TAP and after having been a TAP teen, I know I will never be that kind of teacher.