"She cares because it's her first year."
Plastic & Effective Teaching
Today and tomorrow have been reserved for a major food company to execute an experiential learning project about how to start a business. Students get to engineer snack mixes and work with business executives. Of course, there were moments when students felt like they didn't have anything to do, so they started to get weird.
One example is when a student took a sheet of plastic, folded it around his face, then wrapped packaging tape around his head to secure the plastic. I walked up to the student with the distorted plastic face and said, "Let's make good choices." Then I smiled. Winked. Walked away. The plastic came off as soon I turned around.
Another student responded to my reaction by classifying it as caring for the student's safety, which is true. Then a second student followed that response with, "She cares because it's her first year. Giver her another couple of years and she won't care anymore." He knew full well how I'd react to that statement, so I just smiled at him and didn't really go there.
I know a lot of teachers who are crappy. They are lazy, unethical, and pursued teaching for what I perceive are wrong reasons. But they were always like this; time didn't create their presence in the classroom, rather it was an ill-poured foundation.
I hang on to the relationships I have with veteran teachers that are effective and dynamic. I disagree that time ruins a good teacher, because good teachers are always eventually aware of themselves and how they are interacting internally and externally.
Today and tomorrow have been reserved for a major food company to execute an experiential learning project about how to start a business. Students get to engineer snack mixes and work with business executives. Of course, there were moments when students felt like they didn't have anything to do, so they started to get weird.
One example is when a student took a sheet of plastic, folded it around his face, then wrapped packaging tape around his head to secure the plastic. I walked up to the student with the distorted plastic face and said, "Let's make good choices." Then I smiled. Winked. Walked away. The plastic came off as soon I turned around.
Another student responded to my reaction by classifying it as caring for the student's safety, which is true. Then a second student followed that response with, "She cares because it's her first year. Giver her another couple of years and she won't care anymore." He knew full well how I'd react to that statement, so I just smiled at him and didn't really go there.
I know a lot of teachers who are crappy. They are lazy, unethical, and pursued teaching for what I perceive are wrong reasons. But they were always like this; time didn't create their presence in the classroom, rather it was an ill-poured foundation.
I hang on to the relationships I have with veteran teachers that are effective and dynamic. I disagree that time ruins a good teacher, because good teachers are always eventually aware of themselves and how they are interacting internally and externally.
Loss of awareness ruins teachers, just as gaining awareness can save teachers who started poorly.
