The important things a student gets from school are elusive. The so-called value added system does not and cannot measure the things I value as a teacher. Instead of spending their time trying to measure corporate imperatives, teachers need to learn how to accommodate student weirdness.
This is my job, plainly put.
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Students certainly accommodate a lot of teacher weirdness Doug … so I guess it creates a balance if there is a call for teachers to do the same … the kids I worry about Doug are not the one’s with behaviours that some might label “weirdness” … it is the ones whose behaviours we don’t notice enough to even attach labels to …the one’s teachers (and kids) never talk about at all
Good point, Artichoke. I’m sure my students have regularly had enough of me. One of them asked me, once, “Can’t you be a little more organized?” My answer, “Apparently not.”
You’re right, except that students aren’t formally responsible for teacher-development. And how would it be if they believed it was their job to show teachers how to get the job done?
There are a lot of weird kids and weird adults. Sometimes during parent conferences, it would become obvious why some students behaved as they did. In my opinion, being able to appreciate students for who they are makes teaching interesting.
Doug,
I appreciate your point. I wonder, though, about using the word “weirdness.” When I use that word, I generally am using it in a more light-hearted way when I describe something that I’ve done or how my students have acted.
I know in my urban high school, I think for many students it has more to do with helping them recover from damages that have been inflicted on them by others, society, or, in some cases, by themselves.
But maybe I’m just getting unnecessarily caught up in semantics.
Larry
Larry, a lot of energy in elementary school goes into socializing kids, and helping them “fit in” to the system. High school teachers benefit more from this effort than they realize, I think. But…is there/should there be a limit? At what point do we stop teaching “school,” literally, and recognize that we’re teaching individuals, each with his own life’s trajectory that may have less to do with corporate values than spiritual/emotional needs and desires?
I don’t see difference as damage, just a new opportunity to understand a unique perspective on the world. I really enjoy Susan Ohanian’s outspoken insistence on recognizing the human facets of classroom life. She’s irreverent, quite often, and makes colorful use of the language. Maybe that’s what you’re noticing with the word, ‘weird.’ It’s not a pejorative term, here, though the school system often labels the standouts as “special needs” students – which is the same thing.
This is so great! Thanks for this. I needed it. Right about now
Weirdness is a fact of life at middle school. I have always thought that middle school teachers have to be a little weird too.
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