Here there be dragons...

"I'm telling you stories. Trust me." - Winterson

I'm so spoiled :)

So I had an interesting occurrence the other night that sort of set me thinking... I had a couple students (not mine) crash a lesson. And they were great -- they tried SO hard. And the more I threw at them, the harder they worked to apply it. And when you throw in some natural talent (some people are lucky) they both got some really amazing results. So when the lesson was over, I told them that they had done a great job and were a real pleasure to teach.

All good right? Except one of my other students immediately raised the "well what about us?" flag. And I really didn't know how to respond, because my thought was, but we *know* you're fun to teach, you're why I'm here. So therefore it's so obvious it's not even worth commenting on.

But then I think back over all the lessons I've taught and all the students I've had and all the students my friends have and I realized, that's so not true. I'm just incredibly lucky *g* Right now I have only students I truly enjoy teaching. All my life there's always been a large number of the "we teach them to pay the bills" variety of lessons that keep you going so that you can teach those few that are fun. But right now it's the absolute opposite. In that all week I have totally kewl students. It doesn't necessarily mean students for whom it comes really easily or students who have the most expensive most highly trained horses, but students who genuinely try. Who actually *do* their homework between lessons. Students who think about what they're doing and ask intelligent questions. Who are open to new ideas and willing to give most things a try (even if it *might* sound a little weird :). Those are the students that I most enjoy teaching. But because right now *all* of my students fall into that category, I forget that many of my peers aren't so lucky.

hahaha was covering for a friend a while back (I won't say who or where :) and all I could think was "how does she put up with this?" She had one group of students who were whiny beyond belief, followed by a group who spent the whole time making excuses (those who've ridden with me longer than about 30 seconds will know I have precisely zero tolerance for that :), followed by a group that is perfect -- or so they'd have you believe anyways. It's really hard to teach perfection. Even harder when they're an awfully long way from where they *think* they are. And I freely admit it was more of a babysitting gig (make sure nobody does anything that'll get them hurt) than a teaching one, and I'm not likely to cover that crew for her again (sorry!) And all I could think was, she does this *every* week. O.M.G. Essentially the "smile and nod" style of teaching where every other phrase is "that's good" and the bar for what's considered "good" is so low an ant would trip over it. But she's a really good coach when she wants to be, and I guess these ones are of the 'pays the bills' variety but yikes. Maybe it was just cause they were all on one day -- I think personally I'd spread them out and surround them with good lessons to make it a little more palatable. But to each their own *g*

Now in some ways, you shape your classes by the types of behavior you'll accept. And where you draw the line, defines who you'll be teaching. For instance, I will not let students do anything I feel they are not ready for. I have lost an unfortunate number of students because of this (ie - they want to jump higher). But *because* I have and strongly enforce that rule, the students I DO have know when I tell them to do something, I have complete faith that they are ready and able to do it. Likewise, I don't tolerate excuses or whining. That's what your mother's for. As far as I know, I've only lost three because of this (and two of them adults?!?!?!) but to be quite honest, I don't miss them .

But because now I have all students I really like, it really makes me hesitate some days to cover for my friends because... well... I'm getting spoiled hahaha that and sometimes what they enjoy teaching just isn't the same as me :) I have one friend who hates teaching teens and barely tolerates adults but LOVES little kids. And is amazing with them. Preferring exactly the opposite myself, this works out as anybody young who comes to me I send to her and when she's done with them she sends them to me. But neither one of us ever wants to cover for the other. Despite the fact that we teach the same basic skills. But the ones whose barns are full of drama I have to question. Do they really enjoy it? I know there are a bunch who question my sanity with teaching said evil teenagers so maybe I can't comment, but sometimes I have to wonder :)

So what do you think? Does like attract like? Or is it just luck of the draw and some barns attract whiny students while others attract awesome students? :) Is it a money thing? I have definitely noticed a trend that the whininess goes up in direct proportion to the income. Or, more specifically to the husband's income! Funny the women who earn it themselves, very rarely whiny But that doesn't account for the other variety of traits.

I don't know, there's no real point to this post. Was just sort of bemused by it and so it set me babbling :)


It's pretty obvious to any student when the teacher's just "payin' the bills". If the teacher's not enjoying the teach, there's no way the student's gonna enjoy the learn.


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