On Simple Kindness and Teaching (From Watford Observer)

On Simple Kindness and Teaching

4:53pm Monday 11th May 2009 in Connections

On Simple Kindness and Teaching.

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”- L. Buscaqlia.

I have sat in great lecture halls and heard stunning theories and philosophies of which I cannot remember a word, only that they were great and at the time I was captivated. I have read book after book which stirred up some passion in my heart, some large expectation that life, as I knew it, would be changed, and put the book down and forgotten it. I have written hundreds of essays on other people’s thoughts and given my opinion willingly, and yet those essays are discarded somewhere, and again, gone from my mind.

So what really in the education system has stuck with me? What pieces of knowledge do I carry still? I remember my history teacher, sat on a chair on a table pretending he was riding a horse into battle. I remember the persistence of my head teacher at upper school to teach me about literature, who would go out of his way to tell me that I was better than the way I was acting. I remember the gentleness of my English teacher, who spoke words of encouragement over us every lesson. I remember my lecturer at university taking time out of his schedule to re-explain the lectures to me in a way that made them understandable. It is that passion, kindness and encouragement that make these people the teachers I have learned the most from.

As I stand in front of the girls every week and prepare to talk to them, I’m aware that most of what I will say will be forgotten, but actions are not. So often I feel the need to be utterly sure of what I’m going to say to them, when really what matters more than I realise is simply being there. The small act of kindness in lending a girl a dress for prom. The beauty of the moment when you realise you have told the girls that they are precious, and they have taken it on board. Simply listening if they’ve had a rough week.

How inspiring it is that the girls feel they can share their hearts with us. As I watch them grow in inner beauty, joy and confidence, I know that it is not by the teachers excelling in knowledge or public speaking that sparks a change, but by them learning simply love and kindness which encourages a far greater transformation.

By Catriona Reid The wonderful Cat spends one day a week as an integral part of the Girlabout schools team as part of her internship with Presence