Quite Unique
The below is an email exchange I recently had with a would-be tutor for Tutors International. I have omitted greetings and salutations to minimise distraction.
Enquirer:
Before submitting my resume, I would like to inquire whether or not TI accepts experienced educators who are not teacher certified, yet, who hold a passion to disperse and therefore, transcend literacy through a unique approach that is creatively savvy.
Thank you in advance for assisting me. I look forward to your reply.
Me:
Not all our positions require qualified teachers, although most do and I personally prefer them.
You have a unique approach — what is it?
Enquirer:
Thank you for assisting me. I would have replied sooner; however, my computer had some maintenance problems.
To elaborate, my unique approach to educating youth and/or adults in literacy is quite simplistic. My quest is to navigate one’s mind and find the ultimate niche — an area(s) that most interests the individual and/or group, and create a tailor-made lesson plan in a fun-filled, learning atmosphere.
Me:
That’s hardly ‘unique’ is it??
Enquirer:
Of course, I wouldn’t give away my most prized instructional secrets. I only gave the basics, and yes, my approach is quite unique.
So the unqualified teacher’s unique approach to teaching English is to find something that her students are interested in and then plan a fun lesson that her students will enjoy! And she thinks that she has found an approach do this very normal way to reach students that she knows no-one else has ever thought of… She tells me that she has come up with something unique and so I should employ her, but she won’t tell me what it is she has come up with that’s so unique.
What to do?
Maybe she imbibes her students with knowledge telepathically while she is entertaining them?
Do you mean imbibes or imbues?
Extremely unprofessional to publish email exchanges and make fun of them on your personal website. Shows a lot of arrogance and disregard for the privacy of others. I hope the parents make you sign NDAs……..
Oh Olly. Do you really think that I publish anything that is private or personal…
If she insisted on keeping her recipe secret you could have given her a trial lesson to do – as a case study or a test. It could have been any child who was available for additional tutoring, or a set-up. Either way, once over, she should have been told that the result of the lesson is a measurement of her capability and directly affects her employability. That would have allowed her to demonstrate her uniqueness indirectly.
The point is not whether she was being secretive or not. It was that I very much doubt that there are any new ways to teach very much, and certainly very little in the educational domain that is unique. But even if it was true that this teacher had come up with something truly unique, how could she know? She could not have contacted every educator that ever was or that is currently educating, and compared her style to theirs. The claim is silly on all levels.