Are You Smarter Than a Fourth Grader?
In honor of Valentine's Day I decided to give out valentines to all of my students. I had to be careful. I wanted something that hopefully both boys and girls would like and that would be perceived appropriately. I settled on one pack of Pirates of the Caribbean and one pack of Shrek 3. Seems like a pretty safe bet.
Then I went through and took out any that could be remotely construed as romantic. Then I went through and took out any cards that a girl would assume was for a boy or vice versa. I just wanted to choose some cool cards and make a nice gesture without having any of the little arguments that seem to arise when a child thinks they've been slighted in some way.
In spite of all this preparation, I didn't completely outthink my kids. Lil' Miss Stay Puff came up to me with her POTC card and said, "Mr. B, I got a boy's card." It was a picture of Capt. Jack Sparrow that said, "I hope you have an adventurous Valentine's Day!" I guess it goes to show no matter how hard you try to think things out, you can never really guess how a kid will interpret something you say or do. And if it's true for Valentine's Day cards it's definitely true for every other aspect of my teaching. Maybe next year I should just make my own cards.
Then I went through and took out any that could be remotely construed as romantic. Then I went through and took out any cards that a girl would assume was for a boy or vice versa. I just wanted to choose some cool cards and make a nice gesture without having any of the little arguments that seem to arise when a child thinks they've been slighted in some way.
In spite of all this preparation, I didn't completely outthink my kids. Lil' Miss Stay Puff came up to me with her POTC card and said, "Mr. B, I got a boy's card." It was a picture of Capt. Jack Sparrow that said, "I hope you have an adventurous Valentine's Day!" I guess it goes to show no matter how hard you try to think things out, you can never really guess how a kid will interpret something you say or do. And if it's true for Valentine's Day cards it's definitely true for every other aspect of my teaching. Maybe next year I should just make my own cards.
Comments
This system we have seems completely backwards with programs focusing on getting brand new teachers with no classroom management experience to take the hardest jobs. Too bad it's necessary just to have some kind of adult in the classroom. What's truly tragic is that it just causes a lot of promising young teachers to feel disillusioned and quit the profession altogether (not to mention what it must make the kids feel). Considering I want to teach high school where I've heard horror stories of students committing grand theft and assault on their teachers, I think I'll probably seek experience in an easier environment first.
In the meantime I'll continue to read your blog to see what you end up thinking of the experience.
Good luck with the rest of the school year!