Teaching is tough. A lot of times, it becomes one big negotiation. My motto has become, "You treat me good, I'll treat you good."
And it's the truth.
Example: My first and second periods act like seniors. Meaning they are quiet, laid back, want to get in and out and be done with it all. They have the same mentality that I do.
Another nice thing about this is that - despite having class sizes hovering in the mid to upper 40s - I have 8-12 kids absent every day in these periods. (This could be why they are my the most well-behaved bunch. What a concept, drop a class size below 40 and the classroom becomes tolerable). My more difficult periods, where everyone shows up and I am sitting at 47 students, those are the trickiest.
My good classes, the classes I enjoy, had 17 assignments last Quarter with three massive extra credit opportunities. My less desirable classes punched in at 22-23 assignments with one little extra credit assignment. I like you, we do less. I don't, we do more.
(A note: on the classes I like "more" we turn the busy work, paper-based assignments, into engaging classroom discussions. Because, for the most part, I enjoy talking to them - and they enjoy listening to what I have to say.)
This week my classes have taken a practice Reading Proficiency pre-test to help familiarize them to the standardized test they're all going to encounter come March. With four of my five classes I embedded a nice little incentive: For each question they got correct they would "win" .5 points in extra credit. The test came in at 50 questions total, so they could potentially bank 25 points extra credit.
Not a bad deal, considering this was the first "assignment" for the new quarter - an extra credit opportunity, of all things.
Shit, I wish I had me as a teacher. I think about, and say that, often.
Well, one class (surprisingly only one) couldn't be quiet while taking the test. I congratulated them for signing an "F" for their second quarter grade - and proceeded to turn it into a 250 point assignment, a whopping 5 points per question.
So, instead of having a little cushion to start the quarter like the rest of my classes, this particular class was buried with a massive test amounting to a point total that almost equaled all of first quarter.
I told them they'd be getting an Honors load worth of work these next 9 weeks. One kid asked, "Does that mean we're honors now?"
...
Any teacher that tells you they treat all classes, and all students as equals are full of crap. And I tell my students this. I'm human. I'm subjective. I play favorites. I take care of students who bust their butts, shut their mouths when I'm talking, don't line up at the door before the bell rings - I take care of kids who show interest in themselves, their grades, sports, and my overall amazing teaching and storytelling ability.
(That's why Honors was so fun, they all kissed my butt and laughed at everything I said - my humor and dry wit seems now to evade most students I have. Ah, Honors, one day I will have you again - especially since I started teaching Thesis Statements and things AP teachers want me to teach. You know, stupid stuff discussed over cosmopolitans on those late alcohol induced Friday evenings.)
But I think my philosophy is universal. For anyone who ever thought I treated them poorly, take a good look at yourself. Because it's true: If you treat me good, I'll treat you good. (If I have, or am, treating you poorly, well...).
Or, as I always say to those worry-wort students I really like (and who have treated me good): "Don't sweat it, I'll take care of you."
And I always, always do.
And it's the truth.
Example: My first and second periods act like seniors. Meaning they are quiet, laid back, want to get in and out and be done with it all. They have the same mentality that I do.
Another nice thing about this is that - despite having class sizes hovering in the mid to upper 40s - I have 8-12 kids absent every day in these periods. (This could be why they are my the most well-behaved bunch. What a concept, drop a class size below 40 and the classroom becomes tolerable). My more difficult periods, where everyone shows up and I am sitting at 47 students, those are the trickiest.
My good classes, the classes I enjoy, had 17 assignments last Quarter with three massive extra credit opportunities. My less desirable classes punched in at 22-23 assignments with one little extra credit assignment. I like you, we do less. I don't, we do more.
(A note: on the classes I like "more" we turn the busy work, paper-based assignments, into engaging classroom discussions. Because, for the most part, I enjoy talking to them - and they enjoy listening to what I have to say.)
This week my classes have taken a practice Reading Proficiency pre-test to help familiarize them to the standardized test they're all going to encounter come March. With four of my five classes I embedded a nice little incentive: For each question they got correct they would "win" .5 points in extra credit. The test came in at 50 questions total, so they could potentially bank 25 points extra credit.
Not a bad deal, considering this was the first "assignment" for the new quarter - an extra credit opportunity, of all things.
Shit, I wish I had me as a teacher. I think about, and say that, often.
Well, one class (surprisingly only one) couldn't be quiet while taking the test. I congratulated them for signing an "F" for their second quarter grade - and proceeded to turn it into a 250 point assignment, a whopping 5 points per question.
So, instead of having a little cushion to start the quarter like the rest of my classes, this particular class was buried with a massive test amounting to a point total that almost equaled all of first quarter.
I told them they'd be getting an Honors load worth of work these next 9 weeks. One kid asked, "Does that mean we're honors now?"
...
Any teacher that tells you they treat all classes, and all students as equals are full of crap. And I tell my students this. I'm human. I'm subjective. I play favorites. I take care of students who bust their butts, shut their mouths when I'm talking, don't line up at the door before the bell rings - I take care of kids who show interest in themselves, their grades, sports, and my overall amazing teaching and storytelling ability.
(That's why Honors was so fun, they all kissed my butt and laughed at everything I said - my humor and dry wit seems now to evade most students I have. Ah, Honors, one day I will have you again - especially since I started teaching Thesis Statements and things AP teachers want me to teach. You know, stupid stuff discussed over cosmopolitans on those late alcohol induced Friday evenings.)
But I think my philosophy is universal. For anyone who ever thought I treated them poorly, take a good look at yourself. Because it's true: If you treat me good, I'll treat you good. (If I have, or am, treating you poorly, well...).
Or, as I always say to those worry-wort students I really like (and who have treated me good): "Don't sweat it, I'll take care of you."
And I always, always do.
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