Map of space junk in orbit around us
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Category: Dear Grumpy Advice on Teaching in Today’s Classroom
Do NOT trust anyone at work until you have known them for a school year!
The Administrators are not your friend or ally!
People think that yelling is “talking” to the student
If you let them and listen. The students will teach you a lot!
If you show respect to your students you will get it back two fold.
I was extremely lucky to have such great students in my career!
We do not challenge our students hard enough or well either
While we claim to want excellence. We settle for good enough
Why not the Best? God knows we spend enough money on education!
That we try to teach too much & badly for the most part
Most School Unions are only good for taking their dues out of your paycheck!
You either have too much time or not not enough!
You will always run out of work before the end of class
Your supervisor will alway show up when a disaster has just happened in your class.
Your students will always say something shocking to a class visitor.
Students can smell Bullshit a mile away & will call you on it!
Teaching is like herding a bunch of skittish cats!
Everything at School is Political
Never count on anything to happen
There is no magic bullet in Education
Seeing a students eyes light up because they now understand something that you taught them is a little miracle to behold!
There are a lot of folks out there drawing the pay of a teacher. But there are really very few real teachers out there!
Teacher training is a joke! I just Thank God that I was in the Army. Which actually taught me a lot about real education.
I was a so so teacher & a legend in my own mind
The older I get the better I was!
After all these years, I still do not know how folks learn anything
I guess that I was one hell of an actor as I fooled them all after 24 years of teaching!
Right, Now moving on smartly!
Here are somethings that worked for me & who knows? They might work for you also.
Faces / Masks
Now I am sure that you are thinking “What is the Old Duffer going on about this time?”
As a Teacher or Leader for that matter. Since I most firmly believe that all good teachers have to have Leadership Traits or habits.
One must learn to have a mask to hide behind. By this I mean the following. That you have to develop a sort of Poker Face when you are in the presence of Students & others.
Where you seem calm and collected even though you are on the verge of blind panic & or rage.
Because of the really dumb things / outrages that one of your so called students have just committed.
“Why did you just crucify the Class Hamster? Uh huh! Okay go to the office and we shall talk about this later. All right class let’s get to work!”
This was one of the hardest things that I had to learn. But if you do not learn it. The kids will run roughshod all over you!
Now I mean the following in the nicest way possible.
But for a lot of our students. They are savages that have no clue on how to behave in civilisation. So it is up to the teachers to show them the way. By our actions, behaviors and examples.
And if you think that they are not watching you very closely. Then brothers & sisters are you in for a surprise! As they note all your mannerisms, habits, dress, deportment, views, opinions and prejudices.
Plus if you lose your composure / cool, then you have lost face & the respect of your kids. And there a lot of kids & “adults” who just live for that by the way.
So do not kid yourself ! Especially since there is no such thing as privacy or secrets at school. By the by. The biggest bunch of gossips by the way are your fellow teachers.
This is why I avoided the Teachers lounge like the plague when I was still in the game.
That and teachers are some of the most depressing folks to be around at times. Plus some of them are the biggest booze hounds outside of the service.
Also now that we live in the age of the Cell Phone. One has to conduct themselves knowing that that they are under constant surveillance. Which will never go away either!
So try and remember that and conduct yourself accordly. Like from the minute you step out of your home and until you get back to it from work.
As Big Brother is alive & well out there.
God am I ever glad that I am retired!
Ah the good old Days, Sadly though this has gone the way of the Dodo! But that is just the way it is.
So what is today’s teacher suppose to do? Especially when you get called to the office to “talk” to your supervisor. About their “concerns” of your classroom management.
(Yes Teachers also get sent to the office for screwing up!)
Here are a few thoughts of mine that you might want to ponder upon.
Almost everyone at school does NOT want to be there! Shocking huh? I myself could rattle off a dozen or so things or places that I rather be & or doing. But since I have these horrible habits of paying my bills & eating. Guess what!
School can be & is extremely boring most of the time! Plus we teach a lot of stuff that nobody will most likely never use. I am retired now so I can safely say this heresy.
Most students only go to school to see their friends & not get hassled by their parents. (If the parents actually care which most Thank God do!)
So here we go!
- Learn to make deals with your students! If you do this & is then I will do this and this in return.
- No student is a like but they all have some things in common.
- That is respect, fair dealings and reasonable standards
- They all have something to give & will give it if you give them a chance.
- There is going to a good chance that you will be the only REAL Adult that they will see & deal with all day. Scary huh?
- You represent the State & Authority. Which can cause a lot resentment for no reason whatsoever. Who ever said life was fair was lying & an idiot too! So what does this mean in the Queen’s English you say?
Deals – Now in real life a Teacher has really got zero juice when it comes to real power. But the Kids generally do not know this.
So here are a few things that worked for me. “If the student shows up and does not screw the pooch for say the week. Then I am prepared to do this….(Call the parent & say Junior is really doing well this week. Write a positive letter to them or commendation, give out a reference for a job etc etc.)”
I myself had a student of the week / month program & good grams based on GPA & behavior/ That worked pretty good.
Student Contracts – Where both you & the student agree that WE are going to do our best! Strangely this really works!
Some more stuff later on!
Bastille Key
Portrait of Marquis de Lafayette, Charles Willson Peale, 1779 (Washington-Custis-Lee Collection, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA)
With his military experience from serving during the American Revolution, the thirty-two year old Marquis de Lafayette quickly assumed a prominent role in the opening chapter of the French Revolution.
The Bastille main prison key was turned over to Lafayette shortly after the Bastille was stormed on July 14, 1789 by angry citizens rioting in the streets of Paris.
Long a symbol of royal despotism, the Bastille was a natural target when violence erupted after severe shortages of bread led the populace into the streets.
Lafayette was optimistic about the fate of the revolution when he prepared to ship the Bastille key to George Washington in March of 1790.
Several months passed before the gift finally arrived at its destination. On the first leg of the journey Lafayette entrusted the key to Thomas Paine, well-known for his participation in the American Revolution.
The actual presentation to George Washington late in the summer of 1790 was an honor that fell to John Rutledge, Jr., a South Carolinian returning to the United States from London.
The principal key to the Bastille is made of wrought iron and weighs one pound, three ounces.
Washington’s prominent display of this celebrated souvenir in the presidential household illustrated his appreciation to his French pupil as well as recognition of its symbolic importance in America.
Shown first at a presidential levee in New York in August, the key continued to be showcased in Philadelphia when the seat of government moved there in the fall of 1790.
The Key to the Bastille (Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association)
Shortly before Washington’s retirement from the presidency in 1797, the key was taken to Mount Vernon and given a place of honor in the first floor passage. Washington’s death in 1799 brought little disturbance of the Mansion‘s interior.
However, that changed upon Martha Washington‘s death in 1802. With her passing, only a few original furnishings—those acquired by Bushrod Washington—were left in the mansion. The key remained in place in the mansion’s passage during the next three generations of Washington’s who occupied Mount Vernon.
The key to the Bastille prison hanging in the central hall of the Mount Vernon mansion. (Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association)
In 1824 a special reunion took place at Mount Vernon. The Marquis de Lafayette and his son George Washington Lafayette began a year-long tour of the United States.
Lafayette and his son were but two of the thousands of pilgrims who made their way annually to Mount Vernon to view the home and tomb of George Washington.
This tribute was an ever-increasing burden to the Washington family who frequently accommodated their domestic comfort to visitors’ schedules. In 1858, John A. Washington III, the last of the family to reside at Mount Vernon, sold the property to the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.
His gift to the Association of more than a dozen objects once owned by George Washington included the Bastille key that held such a prominent place in the mansion and amongst Washington’s possessions.
Bibliography:
Clary, David A. Adopted Son: Washington, Lafayette, and the Friendship that Saved the Revolution. New York: Bantam Books, 2007.
Gaines, James R. Liberty and Glory: Washington, Lafayette, and Their Revolutions. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007.
If it only so easy! All right now let us begin to look at this issue.
Now as a Teacher running a class is not as easy as it looks. Everyday will bring new challenges and issues that will try to turn your classroom into a jungle.
So what to do? Let us start off with some ideas and dreams that a lot of folks have. But have not worked at least for me.
Here is the 1st One – The Army Drill Sgt. Mode
Having been in the US Army. I can tell you that at times. That this works a little but not for long. In that you get tired very quickly and the Students are quickly turned off!
Plus this can happen now in the Age of Helicopter Parents & Cell Phones.
Or how about being your Students friends. Nah I do not think so! As it is another great way to end your teaching career!
Okay so what do you propose instead?
Glad that you asked! So here goes on what I learned in 24 years of teaching in an inner city classroom.
- Most Students want to know where they stand and what is expected of them.
- Yes they are some spawns of Satan out there. But not too many fortunately.
- Most kids want to learn something but not everything that you want to teach.
- Your most powerful tool is your mouth & it is also your worst enemy.
- Your mantra should be firm, fair & consistantancy.
- You must set the example for your students to follow.
- Your rules for OUR classroom should be clear, simple and understandable.
- You will be tested on this everyday. But if you can stand the gaff, then you will slowly win over the majority of your students. More later Grumpy
