I've been lacking in my posts. I have several ideas a day, all of which turn into full stories in my head, none of which actually make it onto Kos, or even paper for that matter. Reason being, I just have too much to do. I marvel at teacherken's ability to write as much as he does and yet still handle the workload of a teacher. I imagine that sort of ability comes with experience in the teaching world. Now, though, I have a student teacher - and this has caused me to be much more reflective than usual. After only a week with my student teacher, I've already noted several things that, in my opinion, are worth mentioning.
- Nothing is ever perfect.
I say this because, as cognizant as I am of mistakes I make as I teach, I'm even more self-aware when a person fairly new to teaching is sitting in the room watching my every move. I teach five classes a day, two of which are doubled up, meaning I have two sections of them a day. However, the classes are never the same. My first hour junior class is different than my 3rd hour junior class because, as I teach, I recognize (for example) that something isn't coming across properly to the students, so I adjust the lesson for the next class period. Adapting things is a very necessary skill, not only as an educator, but also as a parent, not to mention as a general member of society. Considering the bandying of vitriol occurring lately, one always has to take a moment to recognize that many things can become lost in translation, and should therefore - perhaps - be adapted according to the varying needs of varying people. On a related note...
- Nobody is ever perfect.
On her first day in my classroom, my student teacher embarrassed herself, to the point where she was in tears after the students left for the day. Teenagers are many things: stubborn, willful, skeptical, constantly on their guard. Some of them, speaking specifically of my students, could be likened to feral animals who've been chased off the porch one too many times, and therefore are highly unlikely to trust anyone. If you approach them too strongly, or call them out - on an individual basis - in front of everyone else in the room - they react as a feral animal would, back arched and hair standing on end. My student teacher made that mistake, and I had to talk her down from her unending loop replay of it in her head after the kids left; she kept saying, "I totally messed up, I can't believe I did that, how can I fix it?" I explained that, as a teacher, you have at least - at least - one of those moments a day, if not more. The situation may not always be the same, may not always be as extreme, may be as simple as, "I told the students the wrong homework assignment, how am I going to fix this in my lesson tomorrow?" The main lesson to learn from these situations is, though, that...
- Being "human" is normal.
To establish any sort of relationship, one must be human. In any professional situation, usually the main goal is to do what one can to "save face," to make sure that one doesn't look like an idiot in front of a whole room full of people. More so than the rest of the professional world, though - because one must remember, despite the recent lambasting in the media, teaching is a profession - teaching requires one to be "human."
In my opinion, the definition of human encompasses a number of things: admitting fault, laughing (may seem obvious, but you'd be surprised), telling an occasional anecdote to build trust, talking (again, may seem obvious...), and other such things. Problematically, there's that old teaching adage that one should never smile on the first day (and I believe there was some cutoff date also - don't smile until...I don't know when). Where that came from, I have no idea. The person that gave that advice, though, was an idiot, at least in my estimation. The only way I gained my students' trust, and the only way my student teacher earned the kids' respect back after that first day debacle, was showing humanity. She laughed, she talked to them on an individual basis, admitted to a couple of them that she thought her shoes looked funny with the pants she was wearing.
I know many people have differing opinions on how teachers should relate to their students, but that is part of the human condition. Not all of our students are the same, something we should all remember for a number of reasons. My students are different than the students of my friend that teaches - same subject, mind you - just a floor below me. Our collective students are different from the students that attend school in my hometown of Baltimore, are different from the students that attend school in my current city of Boulder. The human condition - so popularized by the man who I'd love to actually claim as my brother rather than just use his name as a blogging handle - is what makes us all unique, and makes attempts at understanding the humanity of others so necessary.
I'm not saying that we should all get together round the campfire and sing "Kumbaya," or that we all have to make daisy chains for each other and dance through the forest together singing. However, I believe, as my observations of the first week with my student teacher suggest, nobody is perfect, nothing is perfect, and everyone should take a moment to remember that everyone - despite their differences, backgrounds, beliefs, priorities, agendas, etc - is human.