One of the businesses didn't show up, so I was asked to pinch hit by our organizer (my fellow adviser). Thus, I ended up leading a "teaching" station and talked about what it's like to be a teacher. I wasn't too excited. I didn't have any props, presentation, candy to hand out, or promo items, like most of them had. But, I took it as an opportunity. I essentially said that I wasn't there to convince them to be teachers. I didn't want to be a teacher at all during my k-12 school years. And, I felt that "good teachers" needed three important things-- to be good at what they want to teach, to be passionate about/love the topic they want to teach, and to want to help students learn. It's not enough to be good at math; that doesn't make you good at TEACHING math. You have to be good at explaining it, passionate about why people should learn it, and patience to work with students until they understand.
To try to get the students talking, I asked a few questions. One of those questions was if they ever had a "bad" teacher and what makes a teacher a "bad" teacher? Even students who were busy with the balloon that some station gave them (thanks) stopped playing and shot an arm up to answer. They all had opinions on this. Feedback was pretty consistent from group to group, but I wanted to share the highlights:
- "Teachers who are always in a bad mood."
- "Teachers who are rude and sarcastic."
- "Teachers who find some reason to get onto me all the time."
- "Teachers who pick favorites."
- "Teachers who are always on their phones."
- "Teachers who just sit at their desk all day."
- "Teachers who won't help you when you ask."
- "Strict teachers who won't let you do anything."
- "Teachers who hate kids."
I had about 50 groups of students today (around 400 total) and these were the themes. There were some isolated other complaints (like teachers who send me to the office all the time or teachers who put a kid out in the hall and never even go talk to them or teachers who give homework) but those listed above were mentioned multiple times. On occasion, I'd call on a student and they would be one of the lucky ones who only had good teachers and didn't really have anything to contribute. But, the general consensus is that most students have had teachers who are inattentive, cranky, or who don't equally show attention in the classroom.
Hey, I'm not perfect. These were sixth graders, but I teach high school and know that I occasionally lean on sarcasm to try to get attention (and probably will be more aware of that in the future) but I felt truly sad to hear that children (I mean, most of these kiddos were probably 11 years old!) had already had teachers who obviously didn't enjoy teaching or who consistently spent time ignoring students either at their desk, on their phone, or just through their attitude that made students feel like they couldn't ask questions.
I have made a big attempt this semester to walk around more and ask students if they have questions one-on-one rather than the blanket statements or just waiting until they ask me. I have a teenager of my own who honestly is pretty poor at advocating for herself because once a teacher snaps at her or seems upset with her, she just shuts down and pretty much refuses to ask for help. I'm also one of those "strict" teachers who just doesn't let students sleep in class, play games, and I push them to complete work and won't let them just have zeroes if I can avoid it. If you forgot to turn it in, I'm probably going to approach you about it! But, I certainly try not to ignore students.
Note what is NOT on this list; there is no mention of teachers who just aren't good at explaining or aren't the smartest. Most of what they had to say had more to do with perceived attitude than skill.
As teachers, let's think about that list. Some of these things are subconscious. We don't try to pick favorites. We don't want to pick on certain students, but they just won't listen or constantly push our buttons. But, it's time to stop making excuses. Start over with kids. Let them know that you WANT to help them. Let them SEE that you want them to learn. Try different approaches.
And, for goodness sakes.... SMILE. No student should think their teachers hate kids. Wear your passion on your face as much as possible. And if you have to discipline or negatively spotlight a student one day, be sure to counter that with something positive the next day. Show students you care, regardless of their past.
It's important.