Someone else's shoes

One of the most know phases growing up was "walking in someone else's shoes." Usually this means think about what another person is going through and try to understand what they did and why they did it. I have been thinking about this concept in regards to education recently. Students seem to think that teachers don't understand what they have to go through and teachers think that students don't appreciate all that they do for the students. Is there anyway to allow teachers and students to "walk in each other's shoes?"



My first thought is that it may be easier for the teacher to understand what the student is going through. Any teacher at one point was a student. For the teacher to understand what the student is going through they can first remember what it was like for them when they were students. Obviously schooling changes over the years and maybe things are different, but I do believe that teachers should at least be able to understand partly what the students are going through. Also, teachers could try to work their schedules around the students' lives. Now I don't mean ask every student what they are doing and adjust the schedule accordingly. But, a teacher could adjust slightly, say if there is a huge football come coming up. Students generally will not be prepared to do a lot of work the weekend of a huge game, so a teacher could potentially lighten the load knowing that the work they might receive will be less qualitative.

Now, how can students understand their teacher's position? This didn't come to me as easily. I think why some students don't understand where a teacher is coming from is because they look at the small picture. For example, a student who takes a test wants the grade to be back the next day, or sometimes later that day. The students simply desires to think of their position; the small picture. However, a teacher has more to do than just grade one test; they have the rest of the class to grade, and sometimes they have multiple classes to grade, and not to mention prepare for the other classes that they teach. Thus, I think that the students should try to step back every once in a while and try to notice what all the teacher has to do. Thus they might recognize that the teacher will most likely not have the tests by the next day because of all that they have to do.

These two perspectives are not automatic solving agents for something that has been a problem for awhile. I am hoping to just state a few things that might make some people think differently about how we look at what we do and what others do. Stepping into someone else's shoes is a way to look at the world differently. Do you think that you can try and see the world through new eyes?