5th
A Great Teacher from a Movie Not About Classroom Teaching
Part One in a Series of Five: Mister Miyagi (The Karate Kid)
Mister Miyagi is a superb teacher because he trains his student in what he needs to know, without him knowing it. (Spoiler alert!) Daniel-San thinks he’s just waxing the car and painting the fence. He’s all like “This has nothing to do with karate! When am I ever going to need to know how to do this crap?” But then when it’s karate-fighting time, he’s totally ready to whip his enemies.
The simplicity of Mister Miyagi’s pedagogy is also evident in his commandment to Daniel-San: “I teach. You learn.” No state benchmarks, no standardized curriculum, no wiggle room for whining, no extra help on quizzes, no quizzes for that matter. I teach, you learn. That’s it. Would that it could be so simple in my classroom.
Mister Miyagi also catches flies with chopsticks. That would be so cool if I could do that.
Today I’m listening to: Public Enemy!
