The Skillful Teacher

Don’t Push Too Fast
As shown in Chapter Five’s discussion of incremental fluctuation,
periods of movement forward in learning are often followed by peri-
ods of stasis. Such plateaus or apparent regressions are normal
rhythms of learning that do not signal some sort of irretrievable
breakdown. Sometimes, however, teachers rush prematurely to con-
clude that any kind of temporary halt in a student’s progress is
always a danger sign that calls for immediate intervention. The
problem is that students may well experience such interventions as
Responding to Resistance
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an annoying increase in pressure that only serves to create anxiety
and inhibit learning even more.
So we need to be realistic about what we can expect from stu-
dents, particularly when they seem to resist activities that to us flow
naturally from what just went before. To students, reaching a cer-
tain point in learning may have taken such energy and determina-
tion that there is a real need for them to catch their breath before
moving on. Such a necessary interlude builds up energy for the next
stage in learning. Also, if students are experiencing the lost inno-
cence described in Chapter Five, they may be grieving for the dis-
appearance of old certitudes—ways of thinking and acting that were
familiar and comfortable. They may need to return temporarily 
to familiar intellectual territory to develop courage for the next
learning effort. This will probably require more time than you have
allowed. To push too fast in this situation just leaves students
exhausted.