The next month and a half, or so will be fairly hectic for me. I have several concerts in the next month and I can already notice a change in my personality during rehearsals... I no longer have time to hear a story about someones day (during rehearsal), not that I really ever did, but I try to be pleasant. No more nice teacher, I'm that mean Mrs. Hippy....grrrr.
I felt terrible yesterday, as I made a really wonderful kid cry. She played something really well and I asked her to do it again. She thought she didn't do it well enough and that's why she had to give it another go. I actually get along great with the students and I really do love them. I wish some of them were a bit less sensitive though. I'm tainted by my own kids, who I can tease mercilessly and they give it right back.
One of my observations while living abroad was that our school system coddles our children. Is this good? Does coddling our children set them up for disappointment in the real world? If they live in Corvallis, is this the real world, or do we live in a protective bubble?
What are your thoughts?
~ch
3 comments:
Oh, man, have I got thoughts!
#1: The kid was a cry-baby.
#2: Sometimes you are too nice...and that's good!
#3: Today, I "raised my voice" during math class, as my kids just sat there, being as uninterested as they could with my lesson on fractions! I'd designed something soooooooooooo cool with them in-mind...I even prepared full-color photos of some of the kids...and then cut them up into 1/2's, 1/4's, etc...and one kid was actually drawing on his notebook with a loud, squeaky Sharpie! I had to stop myself from grabbing his pen and throwing it out the window!
Yes...we coddle our kids WAY TOO MUCH! I think I'm who I am today because I had all kinds of teachers when I was young. Some were downright scary and truly mean (my third grade teacher in my new school in N.C. shouted at me on my first day and made me sit behind an easel as punishment while the other kids got to watch a filmstrip...
Surely somewhere between coddled and sitting behind the easel would be good. Your student must have been having a bad day. If they get to play a lot and are challenged, that's the main thing, isn't it? You are wonderful.
Poor boggywoggy. Such restraint, not throwing the stupid pen. Augh! Fractions are fun; why doesn't anyone understand. You are wonderful, too.
I teach public speaking classes sometimes, and one of the things I always have to tell my fellow teachers is, "Just so you know, at some point this week one of my classes is going to run a little long, because one of my kids is going to cry. I don't know who, and I don't know when, and it's not because I'm being intentionally mean. It's going to happen, though, because I won't accept failure to perform. Eventually some kids are going to cry when I force them to overcome stagefright and insecurity while everyone else in the class is watching. Those kids will be stronger afterwards, and the whole class will be unified in support."
Often the kids that cry are the ones that I really like. I take it as a badge of honor when they are able to cry in my class without fleeing the room, and still able to talk with me afterwards and make eye contact, and see how much respect I have for them.
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