Today I had the pleasure and privilege of watching 9 different teaching candidates teach short lessons to a group of students in northern Manhattan. It's amazing to see how different people become over their lives. Each one of them contributed and shared in a unique way, likely a result of their genes and the teaching and nurturing they had received over the years. It also drove home to me that after a certain level of proficiency, it matters less the content, and more the way in which it is delivered. I watched three teachers hone in on a particular student, each identifying the same issue, and each one speaking with her and interacting with her in a completely different way, all different in their demeanor and the way they framed the task at at hand towards helping her. Her technical difficulty was even an issue that her primary teacher said he had addressed multiple times.
I also learned something from that girl, as she sat there so calmly, one teacher after another, continuing to try without strain. As we left after the last candidate she stood in the middle of the room while everyone's attention was elsewhere, and made her most beautiful note of the day ring out.
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