Making Connections by Jacob

Making Connections by Jacob - January 2015 Scholarship Essay

The one piece of advice I would give a teacher is to make connections. Although this may not seem like a skill aspiring teachers are taught in college, I think it is an important quality for all teachers to acquire, and should be a consideration in the process of hiring new teachers. I think William James says it best, “We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.” In my experience, the teachers who made the effort to reach their students personally and to keep their lessons connected to examples the student will understand and relate to, are the ones I remember.

I have experienced many teachers who lecture from the front of the class, pass out packets and never attempt to get to know their students. The result is that students do not engage in the lesson, preferring to daydream or play on their phones. When teachers attempt to connect with their students a magical thing happens. It doesn’t matter if the lesson is not the best scripted or that it doesn’t include all kinds of bells and whistles. Students are interested in what that particular teacher has to say. I had a Spanish teacher in middle school who was very connected to what was going on with her students. Spanish was not my favorite subject, but I looked forward to attending this class. This teacher not only taught the curriculum, but she knew that I was a drummer and who my friends were. She knew who I was dating or wanting to date and would give me lighthearted advice. She made me feel that she cared about me personally. She made a connection with me. And as a consequence, I cared about her and was wanted to respect her and hear what she had to say.

Another important way teachers connect with students is by creating a bridge between the curriculum and their student’s world. Teachers who only provide text book answers will lose my interest. But I love those “aha” moments when a teacher attaches a concept to what is happening today or to something in my life. It helps me to feel a part of the lesson, to better understand the concept and to want to explore the ideas further. For example, my Physics teacher in high school was teaching us about Conservation of Linear Momentum. This idea basically has to do with motion, mass, force and velocity. With just the definition and textbook examples I probably would have forgotten all about it. But this teacher connected it to driving. Of course, that was an attention grabber for someone who had recently earned his driving license. The teacher explained that when you make a left hand turn the body continues to go straight. This results in the person in the passenger seat pushing against the door. Well, ever since this lesson I would think about myself as a passenger in the car and constantly be reminded of this concept. My friends and I further reinforced this learning by trying multiple left hand turns and delighting in the results. If my Physics teacher had not made the connection to driving I probably would not have learned about Conservation of Linear Momentum nor would I remember it so clearly to this day.

Connections have made a huge difference in the quality of my learning experience and, I suspect, that of many of my fellow students. Many teachers have carefully planned a perfect lesson. But it is the teacher who is able to connect with their students on a deeper level, getting to know who they are, that engages the student in a learning relationship. It is the teacher who understands the world their students live in and is able to show how the concepts they are teaching relate to that world, that imparts a lesson that will be remembered long after the final exam.