I found the article on caring to be really interesting. There were a lot of parallels that I saw with the school that I work at, as well as with the students that I work with.
One of the things that jumped out at me was in one of the discussions where Reina, one of the students being interviewed said " 'Cause if it ain't clean then I throw stuff around. But if it is then I won't". This actually made me laugh out loud. This is something that I have run into a lot. If one class leaves a mess, the other classes think that it's alright to do the same. It is one of those vicious cycles. The same, according to Reina, goes for the school as a whole. If it's already a mess, why bother trying to keep it clean? While the girls tie cleanliness to "Whitness", I don't think that that is necessarily the case. Believe me, I know some messy white people! It is more an attitude of "Why should I bother putting in the effort if no one else is. I can get away with it."
Another comment that struck me, for a different reason, was where Ms. Evans explains that "I think that they need to realize that this child could be your child. You have to treat that child as if they have your last name. And what does that call for? Patience, tolerance." Many teachers at my school assume that these kids are bad. Their home lives may not be great, their parents probably don't care, and they need to be sent out every chance they get. I myself have been guilty of depleting my patience with a certain student and snapping. It's one of the most difficult things sometimes NOT to snap at a particularly challenging student. That being said, I completely agree with Ms Evans. I think that not only is it important to have as much patience and tolerance as you can, but also not to pull a Mr Rosenfield and run your classroom like an army general. That is also an easy role to fall into, especially in particularly challenging classes, where positive behavior is rare.
Finally, I think the main takeaway of the article was in the last section. In my personal opinion, the most important part of teaching is not "getting through the curriculum", it is "listen[ing] to stories, of all sorts, in order to enrich [your] own reality". That entire section really hits the nail on the head. Whenever I get a chance I sit down with my students and chat. I ask them about where they came from, I ask them about their weekends, I ask them about their vacations, what they had for breakfast, whatever! I think that it makes a huge difference. Caring is not telling your students "I want you to pass the MCAS and get a good grade in this class" caring is listening to what they have to say and acknowledging that it has merit, even if it is something that seems trivial. Everyone wants to feel important and wants to feel like what they are saying matters. To me, we have the ability to do that everyday. This past Thursday students had 3 minutes to complain. We didn't get a snow day and everyone was upset. I sat there quietly while the classes shouted their complaints about the snow day, and homework from English class, and whatever else. It doesn't have to be big. You don't have to be Dr. Phil. You just need to listen and let students know that you are there for them. As the article said, positive relationships are what learning is built on. If you aren't interested in what students have to say, why should they be interested in what you have to say?
Hi Eric,
ReplyDeleteI liked how you applied the readings to your class. I, too, must confess that I have "popped," as I call it. While my "pops" have been in "general," I still am frustrated with myself for it—ye ole professionalism "out the window."
I do have to give the Army a "kudos," here as a few "social tricks" that I learned in the Army have, on the whole, worked for me with class management.
Unlike Mr. Rosenfeld, I DON'T undermine or name call to any particular student. Rather, I point out the behavior (correction). This does become tedious as it seems, at times, I "spin out" to issues on ethics and the "whys."
One general Army "trick" I use is a "three strike rule," (for the class). I only can use this as a day-to-day substitute since, as I explain to them, I'm only there for a day and cannot possibly know their individual situations. Thus far, it has worked 90-95% of the time. Again, I employ this only on a day-to-day substitute basis.
My military experience has worked, too, with classroom clean-up. I'm going on, here.
Back to the issue (Yikes! I detracted).
I liked how you elaborated on the "authentic care" issue. And, your responsiveness to allow your students to "get it out," vent, about the snowstorm was not only smart but great in building the relationships that the readings highlight.
Also, please join me @ rsouthern12@blogspot.com
It certainly is important to create this connection with students by showing that you care with listening and open communication. This helps connect them to the school community as a whole. Even if you are the only teacher doing this and connecting in this way, at least there is one teacher they can rely on to make them feel valued and this in turn creates value for them in their school work.
ReplyDeleteEric,
ReplyDeleteThose were some nice comments and I agree with them all. I wanted to say that I taught biology for few weeks as long-term substitute teacher. Now the school where I taught is a suburban upper-middle class High School with predominantly white students. I had set up an extensive laboratory for them. Granted it was a long lab and the students had to plan their work such that they finished their experiments and they cleaned up afterwards. So here I let them do the lab and what did I end up doing? You guessed it, CLEANING UP after them. I was a new, inexperienced teacher in that situation. There were occasions that I lost my patience and temper especially when I saw them leave the laboratory without cleaning. I felt like I was a maid servant. But when I calmed down and analyzed my feelings, it had nothing to do with me. These students are after all kids. They have no experience working in the lab. I have had extensive experience working in the laboratory all through my undergraduate and graduate years. I also worked in a research laboratory. So sub consciously I was thinking these are nice white kids and they know what to do. I learn the lesson that their laboratory etiquette had nothing to do with their skin color. They were immature, inexperienced and simply irresponsible. If I train them in future perhaps I’ll see better results. On the last day of my teaching I did bring it up to them that how would they feel if it was their home. Would they expect their mom or family member to clean up after them?
I also endorse the fact that one must treat them as one’s own child. I don’t mean literally but what I feel is one must have compassion towards them. We are here to serve them and it is our duty to do our best. I felt bad if a student didn’t understand something. I had told my students that I’ll be available after school on three days of the week. I also encouraged them to come early if they needed any extra help. But by helping them I felt I showed that I care.
In Indian culture, we didn’t have such friendly relations with our teachers as in the US school system. We have lot of respect for our teachers and we don’t talk back. It was just unheard of in grade school to call your teachers by first name which is true here in the US public school system with few exceptions. In India, we generally didn’t indulge in personal conversations with our teachers like here in the US. It took me a while to get used to this approach but now I feel somewhat comfortable after almost two years of substituting in Public School system. I slowly got used to the fact that it is alright to spend first few minutes of Monday morning lecture to talk about their weekend. I am still uncertain where to draw the fine line. In other words how much detail can you share/listen? I can say that I am in the process of learning……learning to show that I care.