To Young Teachers Part 2 <107> P(3)_What is the "Lure of Learning" that prevents the trap of time-performance education? How to create a class where students fall in love with a subject and become self-driven

Hello, this is Tobira AI. Starting the day before yesterday, we began the "P; Passionately teach" section of the Teacher Skillset AtoZ. Today is the third installment. To all the teachers who are working hard every day on classes and school duties, thank you very much for your efforts. Last time, we divided "teacher passion" into four parts and provided an overview. Please see the content below.

Let's get started.

What time-performance-oriented education takes away: What is the "Lure of Learning" that makes students self-driven?

Now, this time we will touch upon 1. Passion for the subject and "The Lure of Learning" Before we enter the main topic, let's start with our usual brain warm-up.

Today's QUIZ

Please think about the word that goes in the ( ).

1. Is the teacher a "vending machine for knowledge"? The hollowing out of education caused by efficiency (time-performance)

Looking at the modern educational scene, it seems that a very quiet, conveyor-belt-style education called "efficiency" is underway. Students seek "the shortest route to get points," and parents demand "the cramming of knowledge commensurate with the tuition paid." Cram school teachers try to respond to this by organizing and packaging information and pouring it into students' brains as if transferring OS update files, but schools cannot do that, which can sometimes lead to distrust from parents (e.g., "Will my child make it in time for the entrance exam?").

However, let me state clearly. That conveyor-belt-style learning is not "learning." It is just "installation work." Even if you mass-produce gliders that move according to a manual, the heartbeat of life does not dwell within them. You teach only the techniques to avoid drowning in the sea of information, but do not convey the beauty or terror of the sea itself. As a result of such "dead education," students' eyes become dull, and the teacher's own soul also wears out within the routine.

2. The ultimate skill to draw out learning motivation: How to create an experience of "falling in love" with the subject

Here, I would like to propose fundamentally rewriting the definition of education. Learning is not the accumulation of knowledge, but rather, it is nothing less than surrendering oneself to "The Lure of Learning" and falling in love with the subject.

Where is the person who thinks about "time-performance" at the moment they fall in love? You are captivated by the subject and reach out into the unknown, crossing the boundary of yourself. At that moment, people feel an intense energy that they are "genuinely alive."

Case study: Learning from Annie Dillard, the moment curiosity turns into "crystalline intelligence"

American author Annie Dillard looks back on her girlhood in her autobiographical book "An American Childhood". She would sit on the floor of the library, captivated by a book called "Field Book of Ponds and Streams," and then gather tools such as nets and collection jars to head to actual watersides, immersing herself in the world of microscopic creatures such as dragonfly nymphs, planarians, water fleas, and salamander larvae.

Also, after receiving a bag full of stones from a neighbor, she became obsessed with investigating the properties of rocks by breaking them open or dripping acid on them. She describes that when she breaks open a rock that looks ordinary and peers inside, "star-like beauty" or "crystalline intelligence" is hidden there. She writes, "Rocks have not only their own properties, but their own complex life. If we are lucky enough to be able to peer inside, we discover an intelligence that surprises us."

Just as she found a completely different intelligence and beauty in the microorganisms of the pond and the interior of the rocks, and felt a sense of awe. Learning is an experience of touching the "grace of great things."
That may be an extremely irrational and roundabout act from the perspective of an efficient world. However, that "waste" is exactly what becomes the fuel for the engine that shakes a person's soul. In Japanese education, there is a tendency to focus on "overcoming weak subjects." However, "thoroughly developing strong subjects (things you like)" is the powerful trigger that draws out a student's spontaneous desire to learn. That is why I want you, the teacher, to love the subject yourself and convey the joy of learning to the children with all your might through your expressions and gestures.

3. Teacher's passion is the key: Practical benefits of the "Lure of Learning" to foster students who learn proactively

When you redefine learning as "love," the landscape of your classroom changes completely. Abandon the obsession that you "must teach," and show yourself being captivated by the subject. That passion becomes a "lure" and invites students to leap into the unknown. To do that, you must fall in love with the subject. Please research more and more about that subject. Please dig deep into it on Wikipedia and elsewhere, and love it more and more. Students love trivia about subjects (what we used to call trivia). Let's find a lot of it and talk to the children with a smile.

The benefits of practicing this method are clear. Students, without being forced by anyone, are drawn out by the teacher's smile and begin to run on their own intellectual curiosity.
As a result, they evolve from mere recipients of knowledge into "subjects" who receive humanity's rich heritage and become part of a great dialogue.

And the greatest benefit for you yourself. It is that the job of education returns from "work" to "joy." Reaching out into the unknown together with students and discovering the world anew. At that moment, the podium changes its form from a "place to distribute information" to a "sanctuary where life pulsates."

QUIZ Answer

Install

Thank you very much for reading until the end. If this article resonated with you and you felt it provided hints for your daily lessons, I would be very happy if you could press the "Like" button. I also look forward to lively exchanges of opinions with everyone in the comments section.

And, if you feel this article is something you would like others to read, please share it with your colleagues in the staff room or friends who are passionate about education I believe that by sharing the valuable "social currency" of passion for education, we can create a chain reaction that builds "classrooms where life thrives" together.

Following me would also be a great driving force for my next writing. Thank you very much.

Deepest Gratitude
Warm Regards,
Tobira AI

References

• Daniel P. Liston (2004) "The Lure of Learning in Teaching", Teachers College, Columbia University

• Annie Dillard (1987) "An American Childhood", HarperCollins

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* Generative AI is used in this manuscript for image generation and text refinement.