From: Sheila.King@f315.n103.z1.fidonet.org (Sheila King)
Newsgroups: k12.chat.teacher
Subject: RE: MISSED MESSAGE ON DIS
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 19:07:00 PDT
Organization: FidoNet node 1:103/315 - Castle of the Four , Diamond Bar CA

To: Amarit, posting from University of Minnesota

In reply to your message:

-> is?  You have placed yourself into a position of authority, and most
-> teachers are misunderstanding the idea of being an authority figure
-> for students.  We are not here to teach students how to sit noiseless
-> in class and just take what we throw at them...not at any level.

First of all, I am in a position of authority, no matter what my teenage
students think that means. And whether I have a friendly easy-going
relationship with them (which _happens_ to be the type of relationship
we have) or a strict tyrranical relationship, I am the authority in the
classroom. Each teacher is. How we choose to interpret that, or if we
choose to act on it or ignore it, is up to each one of us individually.

-> I'm taking quite a risk by posting publically this whole idea that I
-> have for teaching and keeping students interested because there
-> aren't as many teachers

I agree with you, that we should, as teachers, try to keep the students
interested in learning. Make it fun for them, when possible. And try to
instill a love of knowledge in them.

-> Most kids, if you ever take the time to listen to them, find it
-> humorous to have detentions..in my own experience, they tend to see
-> it as just another school thing to do before they get to go
-> home...it's not productive in any way and with real "problem"
-> children, it doesn't work.  I've come to realize that

Well, as a parent with a 7 year old and a 4 year old, I find that I need
to teach them certain standards of behavior. And I try talking to them,
reasoning with them, etc..., but eventually if they choose to do
something that I, as parent, feel is not acceptable, and if after
talking to them, etc. they still repeat these things, eventually there
has to come a punishment. Usually at our home, it means sitting on a
chair (which the children refer to as "time out"). I think it is the
home equivalent of school detentions. I agree with you that they are not
productive. However, if a student understands that that is to be the
consequence for certain types of behavior, then I feel that the student
has "chosen" detention by the act of deliberately carrying out behavior
that he knew was not acceptable. Now, every kid has off days. And
teachers can be flexible. I try to be. And I always listen to my
students when they come and talk to me. Sometimes after talking, I may
agree to give them another chance. Sometimes I think they have a good
reason. But sometimes I don't think their explanation for their behavior
excuses them, and then the consequence stands.

-> teacher...I'm always adapting to suit the kids I help -- I'm almost
-> never going into a class expecting to do what I had planned the night
-> before...I go in ready for surprises and getting "side-tracked" from
-> the entire "goal" I was originally aiming at.  I am an innovative
-> teacher of students...they

I wouldn't say I "never" expect to do in class what I had planned on the
day before. As a matter of fact, I'd say that 85% or more of the time we
DO do what I had planned. But I am comfortable with occassionally doing
something different. And if I sense that the class is not at all ready
to move on with what I had planned, I act on that.

-> Somewhere, we have gotten lost in the notion of having control over
-> the children we teach...the only control that is to be had is the
-> control they exercise over their desire to learn...it lies in them,
-> not in the teacher.

If you think what I'm trying to do is have "control" over the students,
that is not how *I* view it. I view it as having a classroom where
learning is going on (this does not necessarily mean I'm standing at the
front of the room telling the students what they are supposed to learn),
and student behavior that disrupts this environment and makes it
difficult for learning to continue is not acceptable to me, or to the
other students. I have overheard other students talk about my class as
compared to other teachers on campus, and they say they LIKE it that
there is some sort of order established and that they can learn. In some
classrooms there is a sort of controlled choas, with noise, and the
teacher not maintaining any type of order. The kids don't like this.

-> personal approach to the entire issue, and some if not most teachers
-> would find it somewhat different in that the conversation I tend to
-> have is quite informal and lose...the student can say whatever he/she
-> wants...I'll always listen.  Most of the time, it's just not as
-> simple as "Hey, sorry...I'll try

I, too, take a personal approach. I usually ask the kid why he/she is
late. Most of my students will have a slip from the dean's office or a
teacher who may have kept the student after the last class. That would
consitute a "valid" reason for being late (you asked somewhere else in
your post what I considered a valid reason). Anyway, as regards your
informal, loose conversations with students, I have had many of them
with mine. They can tell me whatever they want, and I will listen. As a
matter of fact, I've told them just that. However, I usually can't do
that listening during class time. But after class, at lunch, or after
school, I'm all ears.

Just because I have a specific way of handling discipline in my
classroom that works for me, doesn't mean that my students and I don't
have a good relationship and that they aren't willing to talk to me and
tell me what's on their minds (I assure you, that they DO!).

continued, next message
                                                                          

--  
uucp: uunet!m2xenix!puddle!103!315!Sheila.King
Internet: Sheila.King@f315.n103.z1.fidonet.org