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Showing posts from December, 2007

Christmas 2007

Thy nativity, O Christ our God Has shone a light of knowledge upon the world For by it, those who worshiped the stars Were taught by a star to adore Thee, the Sun of Righteousness And to know Thee, the Orient from on high O Lord Glory to Thee. -- A hymn sung in Orthodox Churches at Christmas.

Teaching is about telling stories

Yesterday, we held a function at the school for retiring teachers. What impressed me the most was that these teachers did not dwell on their achievements and the leadership roles that they occupied. Instead, they spoke at length about the human connections they had made with students and peers. One of these teachers, a fan of the classics, said: "teaching is about story telling. I believe even Maths teachers should be story tellers." Yesterday was also the last day of school for our students. My year 7s started quoting back to me stories and jokes I had told them about Mathematics. It was both interesting and surprising to see what had stuck in their minds. I remember my dad telling me stories on the way to school every morning. Many of these were Gospel parables or lives of saints. Others were simply drawn from daily life. In a class on Theology during my teaching diploma at the Australian Catholic University, a student started discussing the merits of teaching parables to