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Teacher/Tutor/Coach - sounds like gardening to me

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Edited by Jonathan Vernon, Friday, 25 Feb 2011, 16:55

Is it my nurturing nature?

Nuturing%20Talent%20Watering%20Can%201.JPG

This is how I see myself. My role is to create the right environment, to nurture talent, to bring out the best in people - to help them be the best they can be.

There are parameters of course, they have chosen to be on this course, to swim with our club (where I am a coach). They ought to have some interest, some motivation to attend.

Having directed a number of successful short films it surprises me how often I am doing exactly this.

I take a chance on new comers, new to costume, new to art direction and make-up, new actors too. I like to give people this 'break.'

It's rewarding

Even where everyone is a seasoned pro I hope I create the same atmosphere.

Some 135+ video credits (training and information videos) suggests I'm getting something right.

I'll even put the watering can down and get my hands dirty.

Is all e-learning too hands-off?

Students as seeds in a packet scattered on distant ground.

Vygotsky would approve. 'The gardener affects the germmination of his flowers by increasing the temperature, regulating the moisture, varying the relative position of neighboring plants, and selecting and mixing soild and fertilizer, i.e., once again, indirectly, by making appropriate changes in the environment.'

REFERENCE

Vygotsky, L.S. (1928) Educational Psychology

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