When you show someone that you know something he is telling you, by completing what he started saying or through asking a question, they do not usually like it. As we remarked during the schooling years, not every teacher enjoyed it when we completed what they had been explaining or dictating.
At schools teachers like to know if their students know something about the information in the lesson. They cheer up when they remark that their students nod their heads confirming the information being explained. Yet, when a student raises his hand, not every teacher gives him the opportunity to express his idea. The questions to ask here are:
Why do not teachers stop and listen to students?
What do they speak up to finish their sentences?
Here, since I am still a teacher, I would like to explain what happens to teachers, when someone interrupts their speech:
A teacher is introducing some new information. Then a student throws a sentence into the air. After that, the teacher becomes angry and starts shouting at the student. WHY? Good question to ask. The process that takes place here is: The teacher is transmitting a message, which means he is on the process of ‘giving’. The student interrupts the teacher. This makes the teacher goes through the following process:
- He stops his speech,
- He receives the message from the student,
- He analyses the message,
- He replies to the student’s inquiry,
- He goes back to what he was talking about.
All these actions take place on the teacher’s mind in TWO SECONDS maximum!!
This DOES consume much of the teacher’s energy. The person in charge of the training is in the position of the teacher. Since he is already overwhelmed and does not have time, we can imagine why he gets angry if a new trainee interrupts him every time. If the process happens on multiple occasions, during the whole day or the training session, I let you imagine what could happen, especially that instructors are there to give some information and explain some procedures to go back to their endless lists of tasks.
They are also, in general, older than trainees. Age plays a big role in terms of having enough energy to keep patience at a desired level during training sessions. They might be diabetic or have blood tension. We all learnt to be patient with old people, and as trainees, we must be patient and never interrupt someone who speaks to us.
Most of the time interruption takes place, in that the trainees have questions or need to show that they can complete the tasks alone. The issue is that they forget to keep the spirit of the student. They do not raise their hands, while someone is speaking, to ask for the permission to talk. They just say what they have on their minds immediately. Please do not be one of them, and please tell other trainees about what you have learnt from this chapter.