hey everyone,
I just really wanted to write my support of Mr Jones and Tanya on the forum, I know I'm a bit delayed since the topic has now moved on.
So, I miss IST today, the place it was for me, but unfortunately I don't think it is providing as much comfort to current students as I experienced there. I'm at university now so IST seems far away, but on my wall I have framed a poster of Picasso's Guernica and looking at it reminds me of the History classroom and, of course, Mr Jones. It's a tragic painting really, filled with desperation and very little hope - except for that small, strange flower at the bottom of the painting. There's always a little hope in life, no matter what. I come from Zimbabwe, therefore I understand the concept of continuing even when hope seems to be diminishing. We have a saying in Zimbabwe, when there's no fuel or no bread or no money, we say that 'we'll make a plan,' and that's what we do. That's what you'll do Mr. Jones and you too, Tanya. I just want to say that even if you don't manage to go back to IST, there will be other opportunities for you elsewhere - in my experience, life tends to work out in some way or another.
Before I went to IST I didn't want to imagine what it would be like because I find that expectation can often leave to disappointment. However, even if I had conjured up an image of IST, I would not have been disappointed. Certainly not with people like Tanya and Mr Jones.
Of course, many of you have already written about Mr Jones' competency as a History teacher and there is no denying it - he is passionate for his subject and a great believer in getting his students to put themselves in the shoes of those whom they are studying about - don't we all remember the fun we had pretending to be Wilson, Clemenceau or Churchill in the re-enactment of the Treaty of Versailles? There was a poster one one of his cupboards - 'Imagination is more important than knowledge, ' (Albert Einstein), which I was always quite jealous of! However, looking back, I think that this was just one way in which Mr Jones inspired us all - History is all about putting yourself in another place and time and sometimes trying not only to make judgements with retrospect, but trying to make a judgement as if we were back then. It's so much fun, everyone needs a change of perspective once in a while, and this is what Mr Jones helped us have. Look at how many of Mr. Jones' students go on to study History - I am, and in my class of 8 at least 2 others are studying History. He's an influential teacher because of his passion, his ways of teaching inspire people.
Aside from being a competent teacher, he is a really approachable person. Doing the IB is not a stress free experience and normally I think I'm a pretty calm person, but a couple of times in the final year of IB I took some of my stress out on Mr. Jones - snapping at him. Anyway, he was always very nice about it, making me relax slightly and going to the extent to apologize, as if it was his fault - of course it wasn't. That really meant something to me, being a teacher is not only about the subject you are teaching but also about the people you are teaching. If you want to be a successful teacher it's not enough to know your subject and be able to teach it well, you have to be able to communicate with and understand your students. We're all different and teachers need to be able to understand where each and every one of their students is coming from - Mr. Jones did. I remember wanting to do my extended essay on Mahatma Gandhi and Mr Jones not being entirely convinced, but he accepted that for me it was important and he let me do - as a result I got a B, not an A, but I did what I wanted to do. To teach successfully you have to respect your students and leave them a bit of space to make their own decisions - he did.
The reason we've all written testimonies for Mr. Jones, the reason we all (nearly all!) bought Guernica posters in Madrid, the reason we'll all remember ATBQ (Answer the bloody question!) is because of the profound and positive influence he had over us, and because WE CARE! We care about him because he cared about us, a real necessity in order to be a good teacher.
hey everyone, I just really wanted to write my support of Mr Jones and Tanya on the forum, I know I'm a bit delayed since the topic has now moved on. So, I miss IST today, the place it was for me, but unfortunately I don't think it is providing as much comfort to current students as I experienced there. I'm at university now so IST seems far away, but on my wall I have framed a poster of Picasso's Guernica and looking at it reminds me of the History classroom and, of course, Mr Jones. It's a tragic painting really, filled with desperation and very little hope - except for that small, strange flower at the bottom of the painting. There's always a little hope in life, no matter what. I come from Zimbabwe, therefore I understand the concept of continuing even when hope seems to be diminishing. We have a saying in Zimbabwe, when there's no fuel or no bread or no money, we say that 'we'll make a plan,' and that's what we do. That's what you'll do Mr. Jones and you too, Tanya. I just want to say that even if you don't manage to go back to IST, there will be other opportunities for you elsewhere - in my experience, life tends to work out in some way or another. Before I went to IST I didn't want to imagine what it would be like because I find that expectation can often leave to disappointment. However, even if I had conjured up an image of IST, I would not have been disappointed. Certainly not with people like Tanya and Mr Jones. Of course, many of you have already written about Mr Jones' competency as a History teacher and there is no denying it - he is passionate for his subject and a great believer in getting his students to put themselves in the shoes of those whom they are studying about - don't we all remember the fun we had pretending to be Wilson, Clemenceau or Churchill in the re-enactment of the Treaty of Versailles? There was a poster one one of his cupboards - 'Imagination is more important than knowledge, ' (Albert Einstein), which I was always quite jealous of! However, looking back, I think that this was just one way in which Mr Jones inspired us all - History is all about putting yourself in another place and time and sometimes trying not only to make judgements with retrospect, but trying to make a judgement as if we were back then. It's so much fun, everyone needs a change of perspective once in a while, and this is what Mr Jones helped us have. Look at how many of Mr. Jones' students go on to study History - I am, and in my class of 8 at least 2 others are studying History. He's an influential teacher because of his passion, his ways of teaching inspire people. Aside from being a competent teacher, he is a really approachable person. Doing the IB is not a stress free experience and normally I think I'm a pretty calm person, but a couple of times in the final year of IB I took some of my stress out on Mr. Jones - snapping at him. Anyway, he was always very nice about it, making me relax slightly and going to the extent to apologize, as if it was his fault - of course it wasn't. That really meant something to me, being a teacher is not only about the subject you are teaching but also about the people you are teaching. If you want to be a successful teacher it's not enough to know your subject and be able to teach it well, you have to be able to communicate with and understand your students. We're all different and teachers need to be able to understand where each and every one of their students is coming from - Mr. Jones did. I remember wanting to do my extended essay on Mahatma Gandhi and Mr Jones not being entirely convinced, but he accepted that for me it was important and he let me do - as a result I got a B, not an A, but I did what I wanted to do. To teach successfully you have to respect your students and leave them a bit of space to make their own decisions - he did. The reason we've all written testimonies for Mr. Jones, the reason we all (nearly all!) bought Guernica posters in Madrid, the reason we'll all remember ATBQ (Answer the bloody question!) is because of the profound and positive influence he had over us, and because WE CARE! We care about him because he cared about us, a real necessity in order to be a good teacher.