In my last blog I talked about how upper management often shows thinly disguised contempt for teachers. While it really pains me to write negative comments about teachers I thought it would only be fair to ask students to give me examples of how teachers show contempt for them. So here is a list of things that my students pointed out to me.
1. Assigning a paper and then just giving it a check mark with no comments
2. Giving them a textbook and telling them to take notes in class. Students felt that they should be doing this at home not in class
3. Giving them a ten minute activity but allowing them 30 minutes to do it.
4. Not being available for extra work.
5. Showing no empathy to how much work students might have during the course of a week
6. teachers rolling their eyes, making you feel uncomfortable when asking questions,
7. Not knowing your name with a month left of school
8. Telling students that they hate their job
One of the things that I asked my students is "how does it feel to be taught by me" It is a scary but important question for all of us to ask. One of the saddest comments I received was "you are one of the only teachers who seems that they are not teaching to pay the rent but that you actually care about us" While I think most of our teachers care about students they are not doing a good job showing it. The responses to the question, the feedback of thinly disguised contempt makes me think harder, about how much better I need to be with my students.
Felipe - I am only guilty of #1. But it is rare and usually a "during reading" checklist. But teachers do need to realize that kids are always watching and taking everything in - what you say is often less important than what you do day in and day out. I will ask the above question to my students next week. Stay tuned.
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