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Thirteen Modern Myths about Independent School Teachers

    By Dr. Wendy Mogel
    1. A skillful teacher understands that every independent school student, if taught properly, has the potential to excel in all areas.
    1. A fair-minded teacher understands that in today’s world a grade of B means that a student is doing poorly and needs a new teaching strategy, a tutor, or both.
    1. A cutting-edge teacher understands everything about the latest research on brain and cognitive development and can tailor the findings to the specific learning needs of each child.
    1. Ditto for learning styles, learning differences and ADHD classroom management strategies.
    1. A compassionate teacher understands that busy, pressured children are entitled to everyday small kindnesses in the form of messengered lunches, faxed homework and parental edits of writing assignments.
    1. A sympathetic teacher accepts today’s families’ busy schedules and doesn’t really mind if homework isn’t turned in.
    1. An enlightened teacher appreciates the nuances of each family’s definition of political, religious and spiritual correctness and monitors her every remark, facial expression and hand gesture accordingly.
    1. A sensitive teacher never allows any child to feel excluded, bullied, or to know that he is in the slow math group.
    1. A mature teacher knows that faculty cliques and tensions don’t affect students as long as there is a show of politeness and collegiality.
    1. An effective teacher gets second grade boys to stop fidgeting, poking their neighbors and making smutty jokes and fourth grade girls to never gossip and always invite all the other girls to her birthday party.
    1. A hard-working teacher appreciates that part of the cost of tuition is her telephone availability to parents 24/7.
    1. A psychologically attuned teacher, through her sensitive ministrations, can help every child through their parent’s divorce or the death of a grandparent with no loss of the child’s ability to concentrate, participate in class and socialize with friends.
    1. A protective teacher makes sure that no student ever feels cold, wet, bored or hungry for more than 15 or 20 seconds.