Last night, here in Mississippi, we had a freeze warning.
That’s right, April in the Deep South and we had a freeze warning. So, yesterday found me frantically covering my roses, azaleas, and blue-berry plants with plastic coverings. All afternoon, I was in mourning over the fact that I might see every bloom of my huge snow-white dogwood tree shrivel and fall by today.
Fortunately, as providence would have it, we did NOT have a frost.
The experience reminded me of a concept that Aristotle brought to my attention in his book on rhetoric. The term is “frigidity” and the idea is that certain phrases, words, and actions can “freeze up” whatever process you are endeavoring to accomplish. For instance, if while speaking I use a word that is offensive or hard to comprehend it is a frigidity and stops or “freezes up” the communication process.
It got me thinking. What would be frigidities in regard to teaching?
1.Not taking the time to get to know the student.
2.Teaching from a hurried soul.
3.Not having the time to be thoroughly prepared
4.Moving on without giving the class time to question and contemplate.
These are just a few off the top of my head but the interesting fact that I realized is that they are all time-related.
I would love to hear more frigidities from the blog readers
