The class I gave up on yesterday and I had a frank discussion about what happened yesterday. I explained my frustration, remained calm and listened while they talked. As usual, it boiled down to miscommunication. Like when I say research for a paper I mean, find information and distill to use in a paper. The student definition was look at stuff on the web to use for a paper… someday. We also examined definitions for the words “work” and “prepared”. I’m sure it won’t surprise any teacher that their definition of ‘coming prepared to class’ means ‘walking through the door under your own power’ and everything else is a bonus. I wish I could write something pithy or funny about the scene, but really, it was 20 kids silently staring at me with slightly scared/guilty looks on their faces. They were still talking to me, but treading lightly.
Then we came up with a compromise. I drew a calendar on the board and said, “these days I’m willing to schedule as work days” and asked them what they needed in addition. Turns out they decided that they didn’t need as much time as they were demanding yesterday. After setting the schedule, we went on to discussing how to organize the paper, what an outline actually is and how it works when writing a multiple page paper. I felt like we were really communicating with each other and facing down this research paper together. I don’t know if this togetherness will continue on after the weekend… but for that day, it was good.
Remember the teacher who actually assigned this paper? Apparently, he’s been asking if I’m "’allowing’ them to work on the paper in class, like the other teacher. On a daily basis. And then acting a manner that would lead the students to believe that I am in fact cheating them out of work time. Nice. This is where the term “as*hat” comes into play.
Then we came up with a compromise. I drew a calendar on the board and said, “these days I’m willing to schedule as work days” and asked them what they needed in addition. Turns out they decided that they didn’t need as much time as they were demanding yesterday. After setting the schedule, we went on to discussing how to organize the paper, what an outline actually is and how it works when writing a multiple page paper. I felt like we were really communicating with each other and facing down this research paper together. I don’t know if this togetherness will continue on after the weekend… but for that day, it was good.
Remember the teacher who actually assigned this paper? Apparently, he’s been asking if I’m "’allowing’ them to work on the paper in class, like the other teacher. On a daily basis. And then acting a manner that would lead the students to believe that I am in fact cheating them out of work time. Nice. This is where the term “as*hat” comes into play.
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