Teach tips, tricks, and techniques #4631

Teachers have ways.....

One of my 'techniques' is to wash my truck. Usually before class begins for real, but after students are mostly here. Sometimes at the end of the day.

Now.... what in the heck does washing a truck have to do with teaching the class?

Glad you asked!

A lot of what we do is 'modeling' behavior. What we want them to do, we must first show them in ourselves. Cool... we can do that. In washing my truck, I show them someone taking care of good equipment properly. I show them someone caring about a job enough to do it right. I show them that if they want a job done, they most likely have to do it themselves.

Washing the truck? A low pressure and fun situation that has very little to do with our program. I'm just washing my truck.... and how the students react can tell us volumes. Do they volunteer to help? With a good class, I won't get any farther than unrolling the hose before they take over. Sometimes, they'll ask if they can help me, and I still stay involved. They'll usually joke about 'It's going to rain tomorrow!' and that opens room to talk about taking care of a nice vehicle. Sometimes... it's 'Hey, will you do mine next?' which gets a 'NO, but you can!'.

During a truck wash session, I have found out things about my kids. One time... a student revealed that he had no dad, and no one had ever taught him how to wash a car before. It meant a lot to him, and me.

This morning, I washed my truck.

No one offered to help.

Sigh........... first time that has ever happened. One student asked if I wasn't cold, then complained about how cold his car is to drive now that he's removed the heating system to save weight (so he can get yet one more ticket for speeding and lose his license for good). I think he actually expects someone to keep him warm.

Double sigh...............