The Mental Note of the Month
Monthly observations from the classroom by
Todd Hawkins
2/20/99
www.mentalnotemusic.com
My First Opinion Poll
When I first started as a teacher, I really believed that
I could reach every student. I taught U.S. history and Spanish II, and
I believed that all of my students would enjoy history and be fairly fluent
in Spanish when I got done with them. Contributing to my overestimation
of my own abilities was the way I overestimated the ability of my students
to tell me the best way to reach them.
I had not considered how difficult it would be to overcome
the wall of apathy (and antipathy) to learning that students had put up between
themselves and me.
At the end of the first semester, I gave a poll
to find out what students thought of the job I had done. I learned several
important lessons:
-
It is important not to show students you’re nice by giving
someone a break. It makes people think you play favorites when you do enforce
the rules.
-
Only a very few were capable of giving helpful advice to
a young teacher. The rest could only give advice that would make class
less-demanding.
-
What works for some students doesn’t necessarily work for others. On two consecutive
survey sheets in the stack (really!) were the following two comments (almost
verbatim): "I usually do really well in history, but I haven’t learned
anything from you"; and, "I don’t usually do well in history classes, but
I’ve learned more in your class than in any class I’ve ever had".
It’s important to learn from your students, but don’t
let critical students distract you. Class time is no time to take advice
from your class. It is very unlikely that a constructive discussion can
take place with the group at large. Be careful in asking for advice, because a lack of confidence
can provoke the same response in students as blood does in sharks.
You do want students to know you’ll listen
to them. But invite students who try to tell you how to run your class
to stay after the bell to discuss their suggestions. Usually, absent an
audience, it becomes a much lower priority.
Even if you’re a beginner, you probably have a better
idea of how to teach than your students do. Be confident and do your thing!