I'm always a little hesitant whenever I write a blog entry about something that could be misconstrued as bragging. This could be like that, but it is not my intention. I was just reminded today of how lucky I am, and I am so thankful.
Several teachers at my school have had to give state-mandated tests over the last couple of days. Fortunately for me, I have not had to give these tests in my classes, but the whole process did impact my classroom.
These tests have to be administered online, and guess who has a ton of computer labs...my department! So myself, and the other business teachers, have had to be flexible and accommodate the influx of teachers that needed to use our rooms. The whole process hasn't been that bad though, and the scheduling has seemed to work out relatively seamlessly.
I share an adjoining door with another business teacher, and I can frequently hear her teach and vice versa. But it is never a disruption or a problem. Unfortunately this afternoon, I had another teacher in that classroom, and I heard him/her yelling and screaming at his/her students repeatedly. (NOTE: I have some coworkers that read this blog, so I am being gender-neutral in my description of this teacher.)
I guess it surprised me, because I am not a yeller or screamer. My students all behave VERY well, and I get it done without raising my voice or losing my composure. Have I yelled at students in the past? Of course. Have I done it often...or even lately? No. It's not effective, and it doesn't work for me. I get more from my students by treating them with respect and having high expectations of them.
Admittedly the teacher in the other classroom was under a lot of stress. These poor teachers were given very little time to administer these tests, and of course they were completely dependent on technology. Unfortunately, several of the computers did have some technical problems, but that's what happens when (the district) provides such a narrow window for testing.
When this teacher continued to yell and scream at his/her students, the first thing I did was tell my students how great I thought they were. I thanked them for being such a good class and for letting me keep my sanity. It was at that time when one of my students told me that he had this particular teacher in class, and he/she was like this every day.
That made me sad...for the teacher AND the students. Teaching is a rough job, and I have had classes that have pushed me to the limit. For example my 5th hour class that I had in the fall semester of 2005 could be the fodder for a lot of therapy. But these classes are very few and far between. I just can't imagine what it would be like to ALWAYS be on edge with your students. That made me realize how lucky I was to have the rapport that I have with my students. I love my job. It's a simple as that.
It also made me sad for the students. I have been that good kid in the bad class before. I had a particular teacher in high school who would explode in anger from time-to-time. I was always on edge, and I could never relax, because I was always waiting for the explosion. When i became a teacher, I vowed to NEVER make my kids nervous. I wanted my classroom to be a safe and calm place. Thankfully, I think I have been successful with this goal.
After 13 years of teaching, it can become easy to lose sight of things. I have taken for granted the fact that my students are so well-behaved. Unfortunately, it took seeing a teacher on the brink of "losing it" to realize how good I have it. I am so thankful and blessed.
May 27, 2009
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I've had teachers that yelled like that while I was in high school. All it really did was made the students not respect them and give them an even harder time because they knew they would get yelled at for even the simplest things. One teacher in particular even broke a couple of rulers in half on a desk he got so mad!
ReplyDeleteThere were a couple of other teachers that barely ever yelled and treated us with respect and made the classroom relaxing and fun. Their classes would fill so fast! No one ever dropped these classes and everyone was well behaved because they respected the teacher and enjoyed being in the class. The teacher and students were relaxed and happy, things got done and homework was rarely ever late. It's amazing how treating people with a little respect and like you want to be treated yourself has such an effect on the whole situation.
I read so many comments on articles that mention disabled teachers about how people can't believe how the students respect that teacher or how they must do it out of pity. I've been blind since birth and a quad. since 2004 and have spoke to many different groups. It's not about pity it's because you have earned their respect. It's about time people started realizing that!