Looking at his style, a teacher doesn’t like what he sees

Over in the community section, C. W. Arp just posted the conclusion of his three-part series about Ms. Stone and Ms. Fire, two contrasting teachers at the elementary school where Arp teaches.

In the first installments of the series, Arp questioned how two teachers with such different styles can be equally effective and explained how each teacher has a different powerful strategy for coercing students into completing their work. In the conclusion, Arp reveals that anxiety over having to deal with troublesome students has made him more like Ms. Stone than Ms. Fire, despite his intentions. He writes:

Philosophically, I think that I agree with Ms. Fire. Mistakes, frustration, jokes and play should be a part of every child’s learning experience. They should be a part of every day of their lives. But I am so afraid of Lucases, I am so conditioned by the explosions that I have had to quell, the fights that I have had to break up, that I act much more like Ms. Stone. And this is surprising, truly, because in my wildest dreams I never thought that I would be this kind of teacher.