Friday thoughts 11.6,2015

So  it was Friday and junior high was in high mood. That fact signals a weather change as any teacher knows, sure enough when I got home and checked the weather, there will be a real temperature drop overnight. At any rate they did  survive and so did I. Years of working in the classroom gives you stamina.  LOL

Years in the classroom  also makes it quite  evident that nothing every changes. there are the same almost  stereotypical characters inn very classroom at every level. The  child who is so cocksure of his stature that every facial expression and movement is almost a sneer at his classmates. He owns the world( and thought I hate to say it is often a student with some talent for sports) and often just does not do homework or tries to get the teacher give the answers during in class. Then the test comes and the lack of preparation is made clear when  he or she fails. But  the failure is shrugged off and the student shrugs and says oh well. This works in grade and junior high school as parents can veto the decision to have student repeat in most states, but that safeguard is done in high school. This is the star on the sports field with scholarships to play  who can not graduate or whose grasp of  basic skills is too low to activate the scholarship or should they get into upper education, they are done in a semester.

There are always the class clowns who can not sit still or keep quiet. These were had for me to tolerate as a teacher and that is true as a para also. Often these are bright students whose actions do not allow others to learn. In a large part this is a a maturity problem will heal itself but some adults still act like these students at 30 or 40.

No need to discus bullies or mean girls. The media has done this quite well. So let's move on.

My sympathies are for those students who work hard and receive little recognition for their slower, quieter learning style. They learn steadily and every little piece of progress is hard won. These students need praise but it must be sincere. they need to feel as if they matter to someone without the need to win approval. They need to feel valued for themselves. Good teachers see them and  and attempt to fill this need them.

Classroom happenings can change a child in moments.  For example  this trimester I have watched a student struggle in a class.She will not speak up and works a bit slower than others. Her teacher never finds praise for anything she does. She has shut down and now barely tries to anything more than the bare minimum. She is in another of my classes ,and there the teacher listens to her, helps her with a smile and  the student's opinions and work are given recognition. It is honest recognition  for work done and things learned and recognizes  what is still to be done. In this class the girl blooms. she laughs and smiles and one would not recognize as the child in the other class.  She voices her needs and attempts to fix them knowing here the teacher cares and actually sees her.

Another truth is work habits from jr  high and se. high follow a student into college. In my college classes I see strivers who love to learn, those for whom learning is a struggle but they get it done, and the lazy students who turn in poor work if they turn it in at all and they will wonder why they fail and then there in college a special  breed  who sign up for a class and never attend or withdraw. I have taught as  an adjunct for years and firmly believe these are the more or less adult versions of the students spoken of earlier.

Enough of Friday thoughts, hopefully more happy ones tomorrow.