Learning from my students

The fascinating challenge of a classroom

By Giovanna Pompele

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To practice teaching as a service requires constant vigilance, dedication and thoughtfulness. I find this challenge intensely fascinating. Teaching is one of those areas of human endeavor in which – as in parenting – the requirement to love is so much on the surface, the opportunities to give and receive love so abundant and obvious, that it is a terrific gift to be engaged in it.

At first, when I started teaching in a private university, I was sorry not to be working in a place with a more racially and economically diverse student population. Many of the students came from a privileged background. I thought I was missing a chance to make a difference. How wrong I was! Every individual is precious and unique in God’s eyes, immensely loved by him. Who am I to decide whom I should love?

I try not to see my students as needing my love, enlightenment or wisdom, but to see myself as needing their love, and fortunate because I can establish with them a loving, if temporary, relationship. I try to learn from them as much as I can and to take my teacher-related frustration as an opportunity to learn different ways to see things, ways that often open new horizons for me.

There are, however, tough moments. One experience is fresh in my mind. I had chosen with enthusiasm a novel for my young-adult literature class. I thought it would allow us to explore the complex ways a disabled teen negotiates his maturation in the context of his self-image. The book instead was leading the class to condemn the boy’s inner struggles. I tried to convey to the students that those struggles were normal and necessary. How could they be so harsh toward this disadvantaged character? I found myself tensing up, getting into little tugs of war with the students.

Then I stopped. What I really wanted was to build a united world, not to inculcate in my students this or that idea. I set my agenda aside. The class turned around almost instantaneously. Tension dissipated and there was a palpable sense of relief. We laughed. There was a surge in participation and dialogue. We all started listening to each other and taking in each other’s ideas better.

Setting aside my initial ideas had not resulted in a loss but in a victory for all of us.

Giovanna Pompele teaches Women and Gender Studies at the University of Miami

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