Sometimes I'm A Shitty Teacher

Comment by spacemonkey1310 on February 2, 2010 at 6:34am

I completely empathise. When I coach I think it's important that everyone improves as a player. I go to great lengths to record and document everything we do in training and games. To work with the individual and the team and be able to show the line of progression to the club, players and parents.

Then I leave things to other coaches who do nothing more than go through the motions and don't care if anyone really fulfils their potential.

I'm not saying your colleagues don't care but I think they may not be as committed as you and hard work is just that. Hard.

Comment by Chig on February 2, 2010 at 9:19am

Hmmm..... I can't remember but one teacher clearly from middle school. She stood out. She taught English. However she taught a lot more than English. She brought a couple foreign exchange students in from Israel (at the time it seemed the class poked fun at them), she occasionally spoke of equal pay for women for the same work (at the time the class seemed bored). In the minutes before class she told stories of pep rallies where people won "bluest eyes" or "longest hair" competitions and started in on racism.... and the class would seem disinterested. However I remember it clearly, and the lessons she conveyed I carry with me.

As to the vocabulary lessons: She would put us in groups of four or five and hand us all dictionaries. We would look up unusual words and write down the real definition, and 2 or 3 fake definitions. Each student kept their real definitions a secret from everyone else. All of those would be thrown into a pile in their group. Then each group would grab one of the papers from the pile and everyone in the class would vote on what was the correct definition. However, you had to get a majority within every group as to the correct definition. (each group in class had one vote on which definition was the one) In that way group was pitted against group to see who could separate the true definitions from the bullshit. The class loved that. I'm sure the groups played for some sort of award.... but I don't remember the award, I remember the game and its intended purpose.

Comment by LtAdams2247 on February 2, 2010 at 10:17am

It's not failure, it's a work in progress ;-)

Comment by SydTheSkeptic on February 2, 2010 at 1:17pm

@Dan- When I went to grad school, it was very obvious how different I was from the other vets. I'm constantly "in" the job, reading trade journals, writing articles, attending conferences, continuing classes, while my colleagues- it appears, have their priorities straight. lol
In that grad class, I was that kid with her hand up constantly, and I challenged my professors on a daily basis, too. After graduating, they hired me as a resource teacher and I loved it.

The only problem with that is the way the system has aligned with the Accountability Movement, it's made support positions into more like the administrative arm of the state and district's professional development, which means everything the support/resource people do is geared toward data-keeping...which is not my bag. It's a business model that I feel's at the root of what's wrong with public education.

@Chig- GREAT idea!! It reminded me of something I used to do- like Balderdash! Gonna do that!! Thanks!

@Pete- Indeed!

Comment by BlancheNoE on February 2, 2010 at 7:41pm

I am in NO position to give you any advice on this. I've only "taught" infants and toddlers ( my son doesn't count as he was born knowing everything) and I was only a good student for teachers that I liked. Fortunately, I had mostly teachers I liked. I *can* tell you that there is no doubt in my mind that you will be a stand-out teacher in the memories of hundreds, maybe thousands of future grown-ups. It's harrrrd giving a shit, 'aint it ?,..but you do it anyway and it shows. I love Chig's idea. I can't think of anything because honestly, I can't fathom not loving English. I remember doing extra credit for Miss Cudd and her holding up my work and making the rest of the class do a similar assignment. Geeze, and I wondered why I was picked on. Okay, I just thought of something. What about having small groups working together to write a 1 page story utilizing 5 new words?,..see?,..I'm such a freakin' nerd. That just sounds like a blast to me but when I read that sentence back objectively, I could see it being a big yawn for someone who doesn't love language and story telling. I tried *hug*, Blanch out.

Comment by JustDee on February 3, 2010 at 12:40am

I hear so much frustration in your voice. I really wish you would seriously look at some other teaching avenues.... something that really lets you be a teacher and not a paper pusher. love ye sis... I wish I were in closer "proximity" to you ...LOL

Comment by pendragon on February 3, 2010 at 2:15pm

Howdy SydTheSkeptic
Greetings from Not Europe
Please do not forget that you are dealing with the most ungrateful lifeforms that inhabit this planet. I was fortunate and blessed with very good teachers,... in hindsight. I didn’t know or appreciate it then and because of my travels I was never able to thank them. Rest assured though, that at some point in the future some of your kids will think back to you and feel the way I do. I’d venture to say, the majority of them.
Incidentally,... your use of the word “loquacious” was completely cromulent.

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