Friday, September 15

NOVA Students Say The Sweetest Things #6

One of my favourite students is very difficult as he's a high level so often gets frustrated that he's not really learning anything. Most of the teachers don't really bring anything interesting to the VOICE room (discussion room) - just the normal "what's your favourite animal?" "what are you doing this weekend?" banalities. But instead of doing this I normally discuss a topic from my degree or A-Levels or something deeper. Although it may start as a bit of a lecture, the discussion normally gets going and often strong opinions are held.

Some intriguing topics I've discussed are:
*nature vs nurture
*the distinction between animals and humans
*what does 'normal' mean
*the perfect animal
*the impossibility of infinity - (which really confused me and them)

On Wednesday, the student said in front of many other students:
"Some teachers are good, but you are outstanding. Everyone looks forward to it, and your first VOICE has become legend between students".

Yay me.

5 comments:

phil-san said...

Does anyone care to guess:
*the distinction between animals and humans
*which animal is 'perfect'?

Anonymous said...

The elephant is perfect, it never forgets.... actually it has all the positive attributes of the good things in humans, community spirited, nurtures it's young and has strong empathy with it's surroundings. The other perfect animal is a seahorse.

Anonymous said...

Philip, it's not teaching that you are best at, it's people carry on with our Masters, go on for your Doctorate and then decide what you want to do,,,,, you understand people, situations and are a great concellor.... teaching is far to passive for your abilities,,,,, yo Philip. love Dad

phil-san said...

well thank you for the lovely comment and inspiration...

some clues:
1. the 'perfect' animal need never evolve as it has reached its full potential (effort to survive by metabolism) so any more evolution will weaken it.
2. it is at the top of the food chain, and rules both land and sea.

phil-san said...

nice guess oli, but the fact he's a cartoon and can't reproduce is a little bit of a flaw for the 'perfect animal'.