When given the task of training trainers to train teachers, my first reaction was to ask, "Where can you find some superstars?" Now I understand what an understar is. We have to look for what wants to shine, not what can already confidently outshine anyone else.Almost everyone on the new team of trainers have had no experience teaching. Half have not gone beyond high school and almost everyone feels like they've been cheated out of a good education. They struggle very hard with the most basic of learning skills, but they have enough will to persist and I believe they'll get it.
What this means is they will be able to empathize with the majority of students who are struggling. They'll be better teachers because they'll remember what those first steps felt like. Those who have always been at the top of the class, on the other hand, too often dismiss students as ignorant, rural or unable to learn. It's not the students who are giving up, but the teachers. We don't need that.
