Teacherly
OK, I can't resist a fourth post and here I borrow from Inga's neologism "teacherly."
In response to recent comments about end-of-semester blues from Inga and Stella (at Snarky Girls) and Gukira, I have a different story to tell.
My story is about the students who began the semester as lousy speakers. Indeed, not only were they lousy, they hated speaking even though, I suspect, they do it every day (and for you English folks - Stella, Inga, Gukira - you may not have the advantage of students who practice your discipline every day). By the end of the semester I had students who performed at an unbelievable level of competence and confidence. They had learned two things: 1) how to make an argument on their feet and without notecards (the key ingredient being preparation), and 2) how to believe in themselves (the key ingredient being patience).
It is easy for all teachers to get bogged down in the bad students (and I've had my share) who waste our time, who frustrate us, and who take without giving back. But we should remember to celebrate the students who give back more than they take - the students who put so much time, energy and effort into proving that they have learned from us. As I told one group of debaters who had all performed far beyond any reasonable expectation, "this is why I teach."
In response to recent comments about end-of-semester blues from Inga and Stella (at Snarky Girls) and Gukira, I have a different story to tell.
My story is about the students who began the semester as lousy speakers. Indeed, not only were they lousy, they hated speaking even though, I suspect, they do it every day (and for you English folks - Stella, Inga, Gukira - you may not have the advantage of students who practice your discipline every day). By the end of the semester I had students who performed at an unbelievable level of competence and confidence. They had learned two things: 1) how to make an argument on their feet and without notecards (the key ingredient being preparation), and 2) how to believe in themselves (the key ingredient being patience).
It is easy for all teachers to get bogged down in the bad students (and I've had my share) who waste our time, who frustrate us, and who take without giving back. But we should remember to celebrate the students who give back more than they take - the students who put so much time, energy and effort into proving that they have learned from us. As I told one group of debaters who had all performed far beyond any reasonable expectation, "this is why I teach."
posted by Definer at 6:53 AM
2 Comments:
What would happen if you shared this with your students? Do you think they would agree; and can you be sure because what you would be apt to hear might be filtered through your assumptions/expectations?
Two things: 1. Given our jobs, which we want to keep relatively anonymous (though you could ask Definer for a job title), beyond teaching from 20 (in Inga's case) to 200 (in Stella's case) students per semester, we see on average 50 students one-on-one per week. While it's true that a large portion of these students are engaged, eager to learn, and prepared, many of them are simply and woefully unprepared for college. Many lack not only the critical thinking, reading skills, and general knowledge for higher education, but worse, they often have no desire whatsoever to gain these skills. The end of the semester is ripe with examples that *do* frustrate the dedicated educator. That said, the students who do well and who try hard (with or without innate talent or gained knowledge) always make us happy. In fact, we're among the few we know who never mind coming to work each day. We love our jobs. And most of the students who come by. (2) All *that* said -- Our blog is titled "Snarky Girls." We don't talk about good students. I mean, we don't talk about good boyfriends either. So there.
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