teaching question

**wareagle69** · 09-13-2009, 07:03 PM

so i was out in the bush this afternoon with the 3 amigos as per usual, as i was doing some trail maintainance they were busy swimming and chasing squirrels, rolling in bear scat and eat twigs, i was cutting some small saplings, one i cut low but not all the way thru and then peeled of the bark in long strips, like 10 ft long strips for which i could use for bindings, now i could have taken some time to look thru my book to try and find out what kind of sapling this was, but i did not have my book with me.
It got me thinking, how many times have you been out with family or freinds and then knowing that you do what you do have asked you a question " hey whats that plant?"
Now normally you can spout off all sorts of things about said plant but at that time you draw a blank as to the name, you know you can eat the leaves as a salad the berries are bland and the roots are medicinal, but for the life of you, you just can't recall the name of the plant.
question is, would that make you a bad teacher, especially if you are teching paying students. i have been told a few times that names will come and go out of your head, what is important is knowing the usefullnes of the plant, especially in a stressful situation, who care what the name is.
but if i am teaching someone i would feel pretty bad if i could not give the name of a plant to a student, now that being said you can't know evrything about everything, but if someone is paying for your knowledge.......

what say you?

**pocomoonskyeyes** · 09-13-2009, 07:40 PM

Man I have "Brain Farts" all the time. Not just with plants either,but people, places, and things even vocabulary too. But My excuse is I'm getting old..... It might not be a bad idea if/when you are teaching someone to carry a shoulder bag/Possible bag kind of thing that you can slip a book or three in. I personally wouldn't think badly of you if you were to start sprouting off all sorts of info as you look it up in a book. when you find it in a book just point it out to your students in the book and in real life. Might make it a little more Educational even.

**Rick** · 09-13-2009, 08:20 PM

Of course it doesn't make you a bad teacher. That happens all the time regardless of the subject matter. No "teacher" can know 100% of the answers for the questions they get asked. Whether it just slipped their mind or they actually don't know. The key, I think, is to be honest about it then offer to find the answer...if that's appropriate. You can even offer information you do know, as you suggested. Or course, if you offer to find the answer then do it. Otherwise, you would be not only a bad teacher but an untrustworthy person.

Teachers teach more than just information. The serve as examples, too.

**NightShade** · 09-13-2009, 10:28 PM

WE... this does NOT make you a bad teacher.. The exact same thing happens to me all the time.. I could go on for hours about different uses for something but wouldn't be able to remember the name.... My advice.. don't ever just tell people the name of a plant.... teach them the uses of a plant and how to differentiate from poisonus look - a -likes(whose names you DO tell)... then make them use plant books to identify the name for themselves... you could help them along the way of course..... But this technique forces them to really learn a plant... I've found that alot of people are satisfied with just simply knowing a name.. and just knowing a name is really knowing nothing... The way I look at it , I have a responsibility to truly "teach" if I'm going to say anything at all... If I just point at Queen Anne's Lace and tell them it's name and it's edible, I've really more endangered than helped them.... I have to get them to intimatley know the plant, it's uses, and the fact that the most poisonus plant in North America bears a striking resembelance to it!!!! In addition to the fact that there are multiple poisonus look-a-likes... easy to tell the difference if you've really come to know the plant... not so easy if someone just pointed at it and told you it was edible.. The name of a plant is the most useless knowledge about a plant you could give someone.... I've taught my kids, and are still teaching them... I've taught friends and family members, and I've volunteered and showed different groups of people .... I've never been paid (tho I have been thinkin' 'bout starting something up..my wife always tells me I should)... but if people were paying me, I'd probably try to be a helpful guide to point them in the right direction and give them knowledge from my experiences..... Giving them information they won't find in their identification book, but makin them do the identifying.... This way they will truly learn alot more... and as a teacher you are graded by how much your pupils learn...

that is JMHO

**your_comforting_company** · 09-13-2009, 10:45 PM

I agree with NS. It would be good to have a pack that you could keep your books in and whenever someone says "hey, whats that", if you dont know right off, you can show them how to use the books to identify it. pointing out things that need to be observed about each plant to really be sure that it is what is in the book. Like NS said, theres lots of plants that look similar to queen anne's lace, but none of them look exactly like it.
I think they will learn more by such intimate observations than they would merely in passing glances and generic names spat at them.
It doesn't make you a bad teacher to not know everything. maybe it was a learning moment for you also. perhaps you can change your way of teaching to better suit the class! kind of a "give a man a fish" scenario.
I know very little about wild plants and just because I know a little, my kids are always asking me "dad, whats that" and most times I say "I dunno, lets try to look it up" hahaha. Don't be hard on yourself. only the man upstairs knows everything

**wareagle69** · 09-13-2009, 11:38 PM

well make no mistake about it, i am not teaching...yet... i do not feel i am ready yet soon tho, but yes i agree when i do teach i will have a couple of books or a book and my own notebook for my specific area i have been making, but yes i will want to teach out of some sort of literature maybe even giving my onw phamplets or binder that will teach how to use the books and identify the most common and useful plants around. although invariably you will get someone who will ask about a plant on the walk that i may not know, whick i guess is alright. i used to ask my first teacher about certain mushrooms on our walk and she and her husband would just say "those are LBM's" or little brown mushrooms, and leave it at that.
i guess what i am trying to say is that i want to be able to provide a professional service

**wildWoman** · 09-13-2009, 11:49 PM

I'd say it depends a bit how often it happens that you can't remember the name. If out of ten plants one escapes you, that's okay, but if it was five, I wouldn't be happy if I was your paying student.
If it's a plant you're not sure about or don't know, I would always admit to it and look it up with the students. Finding what you're looking for in a plant book is not an easy science either, so you can use that as a way to teach them how to identify the family etc.

**Rick** · 09-14-2009, 07:29 AM

If that's what you question pertained to then you should be able to provide all the information about a given plant. However, you classroom won't be a "Hey, what is that?" environment. I would think you would want to step through each of the prominent plants in your area discussing not only the physical characteristics but also the gastronomic and medical uses. As WW said, how to use the book(s) you chose should also be a big part of it. Remember the thread on (sp) vs. (spp)? Then send them forth to discover plant X.

**glockcop** · 09-14-2009, 04:36 PM

A good teacher knows his resourses. If you don't know the answer to a question , you should know WHERE TO FIND THE ANSWER. We all have mental black outs from time to time, but know your resourses if your going to teach. Good luck brother.