Saturday, February 9, 2013

Six word Saturday



What you do and say matters.


For more Six Word Saturday participants, click here.

What you do and what you say is who you are.

Apparently, I am an angry.

I was told yesterday by several non-performing students that I do not teach. I don't know what they think I am doing when I am standing at the white board, writing things down and telling them to write it down, work it out, ask questions. According to several of these non-performers, I am selectively talking to just a few students - I guess because I have stopped yelling at them to be quiet (not productive).

I have written on the board (several times) that in order to learn math you will have to do it AND I will not talk over them. If they want to talk, then they will not hear what is said.

I am teaching exponents to an algebra 2 group. They have had this lesson every year since middle school and refuse to learn the rules - and they refuse to work the problems. And they refuse to look up the rules they will not memorize. "My calculator can do this. Teach me the buttons to push." Yep, they do not want to think and they wonder (not really) why they are failing. See, they know. It is because I do not teach.

Coming to school is apparently optional. Listening certainly is.

I have one who will be yelling at me soon about her non-A - who does not know this material but thinks she can study for a history test WHILE I AM TEACHING and still get an A. Did I mention that studying for the history test involved another student holding up flash cards for her to answer out loud?

I know I cannot reach them angry but I can not reach them with logic or pleading or understanding either.

I repeatedly tell myself I am teaching the students I chose - but I am feeling worthless.

The kids tell me they are almost adults and should be able to come to class when they feel like it, talk the way they want to (cussing), wear what they want (hats, bandannas, pants to their knees, pants with holes all over) because they are going out into a world that will let them and I should get over it.

They cannot grasp (apparently) that the choices they make are limiting their future options.

But, hey, tree-fort boy (preceding post) gave the class a half hour lecture on getting food stamps because this way he could eat while living in his parents' backyard. Another student (who receives foodstamps and assistance for the baby she had with another high school student) explained his misconceptions. And that was probably the most he learned all week.

7 comments:

Ricochet said...

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

New International Version (NIV)

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

Thank you EA for the words I needed!

Ron. said...

Sometimes I miss teaching. Then I read stuff like this.

Not that my current career (Service Coordinator for Developmentaly Disabled adults) is any more rewarding, but....

Linda said...

I know what you are saying is true...and it makes me so very sad.

I know it must be so very hard and so very discouraging for a teacher... BUT Please hang in there and keep trying. I know it is hard...but we must not give up on this generation.

So many of them have no hope for a decent future and they stop caring. So many broken homes and absent parents...such a vulgar culture now a days...and so much trash in music, movies, books, magazines...and tv. These kids grow up thinking it is ok to be nasty, rude, vulgar lazy etc. from all they see and hear growing up.

I pray there is some way to turn things around...or God help us all.

Unknown said...

Teaching can be frustrating and rewarding at the same time.... I say send those unruly kids out of the class!

Josie Two Shoes said...

I understand your frustration. It is impossible to teach someone who has no interest in learning. You cannot force knowledge and understanding into the brain. I honestly believe that those who will not participate or at least be non-disruptive, should be sent from the class, but I know administration will not allow it. Don't buy into the blame they try to push off on you, one day they may grow up to understand that it was their choice all along! Keep trying to teach the ones who really want to learn!

Ricochet said...

One of the non-learners was running his mouth and insulting his friends (why they take it, I do not know). Wish I had read this first. Proverbs 11:9 "With their words, the godless destroy their friends, but knowledge will rescue the righteous."

Jess said...

You have such a hard job teaching kids of that age,some are a law unto themselves.Good teachers are hard to find tho and the right parents and children DO appreciate teachers efforts.Never going to be easy eh...wish it was