Style: We All Have It

What do you have in common with Philippe Petit? Well, first you have to know who he is, I suppose. Philippe Petit is the famous French high-wire artist who, on August 4, 1974, famously walked 200 feet between the two buildings of the World Trade Center on a 55-pound rope strung 1,368 feet above the ground. I know. Just thinking about it is enough to cause feelings of vertigo.

Yet isn’t the world of the teacher similar? Balancing yourself between students, parents, colleagues, administrators, the public-at-large, curriculum standards, individual needs, and your own family’s interests, for starters? I would say it is.

In his book Cheating the Impossible: Ideas and Recipes From a Rebellious High-Wire Artist, Petit discusses how he taught himself to learn as a child, noting that his two most influential teachers “were miserly with their words, although expert at opening doors — and keeping them ajar — for their students to venture in.” He goes on to note, “These two teachers were masters of instructions by gestures — instead of a verbal compliment, they offered a barely perceptible nod of the head. They favored education to come from within; they wanted their pupils to be overcome by the excitement of discovering.”

And so I urge you to respond to this idea. What is your teaching style? Quiet guide, loquacious lecturer, empathetic educator, academic ambassador, or something else entirely? What style do you embrace when you walk the tightrope between curriculum requirements (or standards) and the moment when your students are touched by “the excitement of discovering”?

I can’t wait to read your responses!


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