Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach

who wrote about “creative maladjustment,” also discusses the idea of “willful not learning.”
Kohl believes that many students decide not to learn the standard school curriculum as an
act of defiance against arbitrary rules and unfair actions by teachers. He argues that the key
to reaching students who are “willfully not learning” is developing mutual relationships of
caring and trust. He agrees with Noddings that teachers must “walk the walk.”
How important are relationships between a teacher and his or her students? Adeola Tella
is a second-year teacher working in a troubled inner-city middle school (it was placed on a
state list for reorganization). When students in her classes misbehaved or failed to complete
assignments she required them to attend lunch detention or remain after school. After a
while her room was packed with students doing detention. Adeola realized that the students
wanted to be with her and were competing to be “kept in.” She decided to build on her rela-
tionship with her students and make detention a reward rather than a punishment.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION—A TEACHER WHO CARED ABOUT ME

When I was in middle school I joined the school’s math team, even though I was not par-

ticularly interested in math. The reason was my official teacher, Brenda Berkowitz. My

friends and I joined the math team because we liked the way she treated us and we

wanted the relationship with her.

Questions to Consider:

1. As a student, did you ever have a special relationship with a teacher that inspired you
   to do well in school? Explain.
   2.In your opinion, how important are relationships between a teacher and her or his stu-
   dents? Explain.

SECTION B: MY BEST TEACHERS 3: LEARNING FROM MY STUDENTS

In “My Best Teachers 1,” I describe Camp Hurley, a summer sleep-away camp in the Catskill
Mountains of New York State. The children and teenagers who attended the camp were pri-
marily from inner-city neighborhoods and between the ages of 6 and 17. Most were African
American, but there were significant European American and Latino minorities.
The camp’s philosophy stressed the richness of difference and the ability of people from
diverse backgrounds to work together for common goals. The campers worked together on
construction projects and dramatic presentations. They participated in sports, dance, and
hiking. But the most important aspect of the camp’s curriculum was reflecting on the con-
flicts that arose among people during the day-to-day experience of living at Camp Hurley.
I worked summers at this camp between the ages of 19 and 24 and I continued to volun-
teer on weekends and vacations into my 30s. As I mention in chapter 2, it is here that I
learned how to teach. Most of my best teachers at Camp Hurley were the children. In this
section I want to share some of my most powerful learning experiences as children and teen-
agers struggled to help me understand what it means to be a teacher.

Lesson 1. It is possible to develop a diverse community based on mutual respect.At the

beginning of the summer of 1973, I worked with the preteen group, boys and girls ages 12,

13, and 14. In early July, we went on a 20-mile, 3-day hike along the Rondout Creek to the

point where it flows into the Hudson River; to the best of my memory, about 16 campers

RELATIONSHIPS 105