When the Student is Ready

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” 

The quote has been attributed to Tao Te Ching, to Buddha, and probably Abraham Lincoln—because that’s how the internet works.

I’ve been thinking about teachers a lot lately. I have been blessed by a lifetime full of great teachers—my first and best teacher—my mother-- who, in addition to all the teaching that mothers do, was also in turn my kindergarten teacher, and my fifth-grade teacher. And yes, I called her Mrs. Mullins in class. She used to tell the story that one day in Kindergarten, when she had apparently failed to respond to several of my calls for attention: “Mrs. Mullins. Oh, Mrs. Mullins!” I apparently decided to use the one name guaranteed to get her attention and called her “Mommy.” “She called you Mommy!” my classmates laughed; certain I had just made a Freudian slip. I was so good at referring to her as Mrs. Mullins some of my little classmates didn’t realize she was my mom! To them, I was just one of four Mullins kids in the class.

In addition to my mom, I was fortunate enough to have had both the legendary June Rowland and Kenton Smith as teachers. Both were wise and loving teachers who fed my love of words. Science teachers Randy Sharp and John Mullenix shared their love of the natural world with their students and I still remember taxonomy hierarchy: “Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species” to this day. Good teachers shape our lives and our futures.

 

Nova Mullins & Cameron Sume

Teaching runs in my family’s blood. In addition to my mom, my son Cameron is also a teacher. He teaches math--secondary math education, to be precise--at Graham Kapowsin High School in Puyallup. He loves teaching, and the challenges of Covid have him working long hours. Most of his teaching is done “on-line” but he does meet with students who need extra help in-person.

When I asked him the specifics about the differences in lesson planning for on-line vs. in-person education, he said “I have yet to plan a lesson to be given in person and online, but I imagine the two would be very different. The timing of online teaching is a lot slower and transitions take longer.” He also noted that it’s a lot harder to build and maintain relationships with students over distance learning. He shared that he knows of other teachers and classes that are very successful with on-line learning, but that students who struggle academically—specifically in math (and boy, do I relate to that)—are having a hard time.

When I texted him some follow up questions, he begged off, citing the lateness of the hour and asked if we could talk tomorrow instead. 

“Deadline IS tomorrow” I texted back.

He answered another question and then sent “Also you should try to write before the deadline.”

He sent a smiley face emoji and “Sorry, that’s the teacher in me.”

When the student is ready...

Please remember to support our local students by voting YES on our levy. And don’t procrastinate—even I am sending my ballot in early.