Have a Good Life

My student who taught last week wrote up a little response to what she thought of being a teacher for a day:

Being a teacher is not something that I would become when I grow up. A reason is because it's boring and you don't have fun. Besides, all the "students" ignore you and do whatever they want. It's hard being a teacher because you have to to [sic] thing so you can answer the students' questions, even though some questions are dumb, you still should know the answer. Now I know that it's not easy to be a teacher, it is actually pretty hard.

I am glad that she was able to understand something from that experience.

One of my students (one of the instigators in my most unruly class) asked if she could teach today. I said, "Sure, go ahead!" She was probably just kidding with me, but I said she could go ahead anyway. She was excited at first, but then realized how hard it is to control this unruly class.

At the end, her frustration level was so high she said, "Mr. Jones, your job is so boring. If I were you, I would quit!"

It was very interesting to see how quickly she gave up. I don't really blame her, her class makes me question whether I should give up. Just kidding, sort of. It will be really interesting to see if her behavior changes in the future.

Very Scary

My honors class is usually a little rambunxious. They are full of energy, and there are a few boys that are certainly filling the role that boys are "supposed" to fill. They are always walking around, yelling, fighting, etc. The girls also fill their stereotypical roles well: they talk constantly, they flirt, they write notes, etc. It usually is not that big of a deal, but today was supposed to be a fun day. We just finished talking about voice in writing, and so I wanted to show a video (below) that showed how their writing is much more entertaining when their voices show through. Well, my class was talking the entire time and so I said, "Okay, class, if you guys want to continue acting like second-graders, I will treat you like second-graders." So, I made them all put their heads down on their desks, printed up an assignment for their homework, since we weren't going to do it in class, and then typed another assignment for the weekend. I really like that class, but they were so unruly today, I knew that I needed to do something to nip it in the bud. Only one student apologized after class was over. They had their heads down the entire period.

I read in one of my books that a good way to help students understand voice in writing is to have them rewrite nursery rhymes using different voices. Well, I thought that would be a great idea, so I decided to try it. Well, when I announced it to my first period class, I realized that most students in my class are minorities, and they don't know what nursery rhymes are. Even though every culture has short, moral stories that teach us lessons, they are not called nursery rhymes in every language. That was something that I had never thought about. I am taking a Multicultural class right now and that is why I thought of it, but it is interesting to see how I need to change my curriculum and lessons to adapt to those that may not be aware of how Americans do things.