Hard News: The Clamour to Cringe
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Disclosure #1: I am a third year teacher.
Disclosure #2: I am knackered.
Literally hanging out for the last day of school. Like most teachers I'm assuming, whether it be the 14th or the 20th of December.
I have not read the PISA reports, so I can't speak to them. I do worry about the long length of the underachievers though.
I struggle to make sense of my students, and I'm sure they struggle to make sense of me some days. The trick is trying to make sense of it all together. That's where the learning is.
I demand high standards, real effort, reflection and honesty. I expect the same from my students. I struggle with parents who don't like that I demand these things and then demand that their students be treated with respect regardless of their behaviour.
IMHO the new curriculum is a powerful document. Despite the concern of Mr Minto it is to me a groundbreaking shift on what the purpose of education is - that will require passion, care, concern and a desire to make our place a better one. All those need to come from parents, teachers, students, communities - anyone who's interested in the future of the place.
Max - welcome to the most noble pursuit on the planet. I use noble in the sense that teaching is a pursuit that is decent, unselfish, righteous and worthy. You will be frustrated, challenged and despairing at times. See through the paperwork, the politics, the constant planning.
Be there for your students.
Be the one positive, passionate, purposeful person in their lives.Give them hope.
Give them dignity.
Believe in them.
Believe in the possibilities that they are.
Every day.That might be in teaching them how to balance algebraic equations, how to make sense of a piece of text, or just be greeting them with a smile each day.
All that might sound like pablum and hokey to some. But we adults seem to have forgotten to believe in our young people. We reduce them to statistics or put them into boxes.
I showed Apple's 'Think Different' TVC to my students today and we had a discussion about the vocabulary and what it meant. I didn't think the challenge would come from explaining 'round peg in a square hole' - but then how do you argue with a student who states: "You could do that if the peg was smaller than the hole."
My 12 year olds only recognized Muhammed Ali and Mahatma Gandhi, but when I asked which individual did they think was the most important, several considered, then answered carefully: "The little girl at the end ... because that's us."
The kids are alright.
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I didn't think the challenge would come from explaining 'round peg in a square hole' - but then how do you argue with a student who states: "You could do that if the peg was smaller than the hole."
Lol. There's a kid that'll go far.
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Literally hanging out for the last day of school.
'Literally'?? (see discussion on 'Word of the Year' thread.
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Literally hanging out for the last day of school.
'Literally'?? (see discussion on 'Word of the Year' thread.
Sounds like indecent exposure to me.
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"The little girl at the end ... because that's us."
The kids are alright.
Aw thats cool, thanks
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Surely 'hanging out', if it refers to a body part, would be the tongue? But isn't 'hanging out' just a phrase that means 'being somewhere (or with someone) for a while'?
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Thanks Tim Kong - I hope that the other teachers at my school will be like you :-)
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I salute you Tim. I want to pay more tax and employ more people like you and pay you more.
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