“What happened to you
from the first day? I mean, you were so nice and stuff, and now you’re…mean.”
Well, I think this week was the first time in my life that anybody has ever
called me mean. A lot of teachers, at least around here, take being called mean
as a compliment. I wasn’t quite sure how to feel about it. Then I thought about
it a little more. What this girl perceived as me being mean was really just me
not letting her get away with doing whatever she wants to do in class. Hey,
maybe I’m just finally in charge now…
3 weeks in. I guess
we’re starting to get the hang of it. It’s still stressful and exhausting, but
at least it’s more of a routine.
A few messages to my
students:
-
“Can you
come here? I can’t do this.” Saying this in the particular way that you do it
does not really make me want to help you. Try this: “Mr. Vander Haak, I’m
having trouble understanding this. Could you please help me?”
-
When I say,
“Complete the entire worksheet”, I’d
prefer not to have eight different people ask me, “Do I answer these
questions?” Are they on the worksheet? If the answer to this question is “yes”,
please refer back to my original instructions.
-
I can
usually notice when things are copied from the Internet. Please don’t do it. I’m
not sure if you expected me not to notice (even when you used words like
“forb”), or if you just didn’t expect me to do anything about it. I don’t like
giving out zeros for plagiarism (and I’m sure you don’t either).
-
When I ask
you to wait to go to the bathroom when there is somebody else out already, your
sound of disgust is not appreciated. Realize that there is a school policy
about letting more than one student leave the classroom at once.
-
“What are we
supposed to be doing?” This is a question that should not be asked: (1) when I am
in the middle of explaining the directions, or (2) after I have explained the
directions, they are up on the board, and, just in case, I have also printed
them at the top of your handout.
-
Conversation
I have had with more than one of you:
You: “I don't know how to answer this question.”
Me: “Have you read the question?”
You: “No.”
Me: “Okay, then read the question.”
You: Reads the question. “Oh, I get it now.”
Can you see how this conversation is unnecessary?
You: “I don't know how to answer this question.”
Me: “Have you read the question?”
You: “No.”
Me: “Okay, then read the question.”
You: Reads the question. “Oh, I get it now.”
Can you see how this conversation is unnecessary?
Well, most of my stress
comes from students preferring to talk through an entire class period rather
than allow me to give 30 seconds of directions and their desire for me to hold
their hands and do the work for them (especially after they have completely
missed the directions) when I know they are all capable of doing it on their
own.
This post has probably sounded mostly like me complaining about my students (probably because that’s what I’ve been doing). Most students seem to be perfectly reasonable, respectful, logical people outside of class, but then we put them all together into a classroom, and it’s like they forget what they’re capable of.
This post has probably sounded mostly like me complaining about my students (probably because that’s what I’ve been doing). Most students seem to be perfectly reasonable, respectful, logical people outside of class, but then we put them all together into a classroom, and it’s like they forget what they’re capable of.
An “I can’t do this”
student (see message number one) comes into my classroom after school and
politely asks me for help with Chemistry. After 5 minutes, she leaves saying,
“Oh, that wasn’t so hard.”
This complaining about
my students shouldn’t convince you that I’ve lost faith in them. It really
seems to me that way too many students have way too little confidence and
self-sufficiency when it comes to school, when outside of the classroom they
can be just the opposite. We just need to find a way to bridge that gap between outside and inside the classroom.
Message to students:
-
I don’t want
to hear “I can’t do this” one more time, because you can.
My classroom may be a
little crazy at times, but I’m doing my best to stay sane. I still somehow get
plenty of sleep at night and this weekend I got away with doing maybe three hours
of work. Yesterday, we went out to “The Pyramid” (a very large outdoors
store/restaurant/bowling alley/hotel/aquarium/taxidermy display) with a group
from church. It was nice to not spend the whole day working, and there was
fudge there, so of course we had to get 6 different flavors. Then that night we
had some friends over for dinner and games and a quick run to Chick-fil-A,
arriving 5 minutes before they closed. Hey, if we can find time for stuff other
than work, maybe that’s a start toward modeling the “I can do this” attitude
for my students. It’s hard, but I think it’s starting to get better.
- David
- David