Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Give me a gun...
Oh yes...today was another day in which I substitute taught in the High School. Now, besides it being little more than glorified babysitting (or not so glorified), it makes me a little sad, a little mad, and kind of depressed to see the state of high schoolers in our country.
Now, granted, I am not a full time teacher and I remember being worse for the sub than for the real teacher, but there is a sense of apathy from such a large majority of the students that it is a bit frightening. We tried to go over a few things in class (it was a music class so I decided to do a little compound time with them), but when I introduced something that wasn't extremely easy to do, most of the students gave up and began to say things such as, "This is stupid","It's too hard","I hate doing stuff like this", and "Is this busy work?" I couldn't help but respond to that last comment with, "Well can you do it perfectly?" to which she says, "Uh...no..." to which I reply, "Then it's not busy work, is it?" to which she turns red and then plays with her neighbor's hair for the rest of the period.
Now I didn't witness this sense of apathy and lack of caring here for the first time. I would dare say that half of all my classes talk, act, or otherwise show me that what we are doing in class is about as interesting to them as a root canal. If it isn't directly applicable (ie why South Park was funny last night), they give up and classify it as dumb.
As I ponder this conundrum, I began to wonder, however, who's fault is this? Does it have something to do with the age and the search for individual identity? Does the love of learning denote an identity with which most teenagers would rather distance themselves from? Does intelligence facilitate interest and, if so, should we blame those who are less intelligent or is that simply in line with their IQ? Or are the teacher's to blame? Have we taugt facts, figures, and every who, what, or when, but failed to ever mention why? Is there even an emphasis anywhere in the learning process to teach the love of learning or even how to learn? Because of differing intelligence levels, are most students put off from an early age because their best achievements are never touted as high as the more intelligent of their classmates?
I think it may be a combination of all of these, but I think the major problem is that we don't want to learn and we don't love to learn because we've rarely been given a reason to love it. How many guys can tell you every stat about every person in the NFL? MANY!!! Why? Because it's interesting and they want to know it. But how often are we told why it's important or interesting for us to know why the Roman Empire fell or why famous generals won battles or why we should know how our body works? It seems that we may have asked a few too many whats, whens, and wheres, and forgotten the why altogether.
Now, granted, I am not a full time teacher and I remember being worse for the sub than for the real teacher, but there is a sense of apathy from such a large majority of the students that it is a bit frightening. We tried to go over a few things in class (it was a music class so I decided to do a little compound time with them), but when I introduced something that wasn't extremely easy to do, most of the students gave up and began to say things such as, "This is stupid","It's too hard","I hate doing stuff like this", and "Is this busy work?" I couldn't help but respond to that last comment with, "Well can you do it perfectly?" to which she says, "Uh...no..." to which I reply, "Then it's not busy work, is it?" to which she turns red and then plays with her neighbor's hair for the rest of the period.
Now I didn't witness this sense of apathy and lack of caring here for the first time. I would dare say that half of all my classes talk, act, or otherwise show me that what we are doing in class is about as interesting to them as a root canal. If it isn't directly applicable (ie why South Park was funny last night), they give up and classify it as dumb.
As I ponder this conundrum, I began to wonder, however, who's fault is this? Does it have something to do with the age and the search for individual identity? Does the love of learning denote an identity with which most teenagers would rather distance themselves from? Does intelligence facilitate interest and, if so, should we blame those who are less intelligent or is that simply in line with their IQ? Or are the teacher's to blame? Have we taugt facts, figures, and every who, what, or when, but failed to ever mention why? Is there even an emphasis anywhere in the learning process to teach the love of learning or even how to learn? Because of differing intelligence levels, are most students put off from an early age because their best achievements are never touted as high as the more intelligent of their classmates?
I think it may be a combination of all of these, but I think the major problem is that we don't want to learn and we don't love to learn because we've rarely been given a reason to love it. How many guys can tell you every stat about every person in the NFL? MANY!!! Why? Because it's interesting and they want to know it. But how often are we told why it's important or interesting for us to know why the Roman Empire fell or why famous generals won battles or why we should know how our body works? It seems that we may have asked a few too many whats, whens, and wheres, and forgotten the why altogether.
# posted by Christopher @ 8:49 PM 
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christopher,
you've hit the nail on the head. the problem lies in two arenas: one, students NEVER like to go to school. and more and more, what i'm seeing is that it's cool to be apathetic. take our generation for example: a good portion of us are sitting around, drinking beer, smoking weed, playing video games, and deciding that it's all right to be a drive through cashier at mcdonalds for the rest of their lives. if our generation is like that, let's say for arguments' sake 25% (which i realize is probably a gross overestimation, but work with me), then what is the percentage of the NEXT generation that's going to feel that way? at least double, i'm sure. that's why i'm so bloody disguisted with our generation as it stands. if we are the future of the world, we might as well go ahead, pack our bags, and move to hell.
however, there is a good portion of us who want to make a difference. this is where point two comes into play. the problem is, there are so few ways to make a difference that are appreciated anymore. those of us that go into teaching for the love of the craft are naive at best, and i'll admit that. i know teaching isn't going to be sunshine and roses. i know for the better part of my career i'm going to be contemplating throwing myself off a building. but it's because i know that there will be one or two kids in my classes that really want to learn literature or drama. i'm going to teach for those kids. but i know, realistically, that not everyone that goes into teaching goes into it because they want to teach. a good portion of teachers go into teaching because you can always get a job and have steady work. that's no reason to get a CAREER. that's a reason to get a JOB, and i fully believe those two are not mutually exclusive.
and also, as a third (albeit minor) point--chorus (or ensemble) is generally looked at as an "easy A". you go in, you sing, you leave. A earned. they don't actually think, for the most part, that they are going to have to LEARN stuff, other than music. you know? i know that sounds harsh, but it's true.
sorry for posting a diatribe; this is a subject that i'm (obviously) passionate about.
by the way--where were you teaching? farragut?
the second reason is that
you've hit the nail on the head. the problem lies in two arenas: one, students NEVER like to go to school. and more and more, what i'm seeing is that it's cool to be apathetic. take our generation for example: a good portion of us are sitting around, drinking beer, smoking weed, playing video games, and deciding that it's all right to be a drive through cashier at mcdonalds for the rest of their lives. if our generation is like that, let's say for arguments' sake 25% (which i realize is probably a gross overestimation, but work with me), then what is the percentage of the NEXT generation that's going to feel that way? at least double, i'm sure. that's why i'm so bloody disguisted with our generation as it stands. if we are the future of the world, we might as well go ahead, pack our bags, and move to hell.
however, there is a good portion of us who want to make a difference. this is where point two comes into play. the problem is, there are so few ways to make a difference that are appreciated anymore. those of us that go into teaching for the love of the craft are naive at best, and i'll admit that. i know teaching isn't going to be sunshine and roses. i know for the better part of my career i'm going to be contemplating throwing myself off a building. but it's because i know that there will be one or two kids in my classes that really want to learn literature or drama. i'm going to teach for those kids. but i know, realistically, that not everyone that goes into teaching goes into it because they want to teach. a good portion of teachers go into teaching because you can always get a job and have steady work. that's no reason to get a CAREER. that's a reason to get a JOB, and i fully believe those two are not mutually exclusive.
and also, as a third (albeit minor) point--chorus (or ensemble) is generally looked at as an "easy A". you go in, you sing, you leave. A earned. they don't actually think, for the most part, that they are going to have to LEARN stuff, other than music. you know? i know that sounds harsh, but it's true.
sorry for posting a diatribe; this is a subject that i'm (obviously) passionate about.
by the way--where were you teaching? farragut?
the second reason is that
# posted by 
: 3:17 AM
: 3:17 AM
Hey man!
I speak as THE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT. Also, I'm your total average slacker girl that you would probably hate if you had me in a regular class. I can't speak for the high school kids of the world, but I can speak for myself. Personally, I don't feel motivated to learn things that are not interesting to me. For example, if it happened to be a history, government, english or chorus class I would be Miss Participation. I'd stay awake for 98% of the semester and I'd make great friends with my teacher. However, when I get BORED... I get lazy. Ah yes, lazy. The number one word to describe farragut's children. C-dawg, we don't want to work any harder than we have to in the classes that dont' matter to us. We just want to get a good enough grade to get the hell out of there.
BUT there are ways to get around this, I believe. I think the problem with most teachers is their lack of creativity. I cannot learn or stay awake when we have to get out our books and do worksheets by ourselves every single day. Teachers need to acknowledge the different types of learning styles and try to incorporate them all. Of course this can't and wont happen with all teachers, but it surely does seperate the good from the bad.
As for teaching compound time to concert choir... you brave soul, you. We haven't even started compound in advanced womens yet. I don't really understand why it's hard.. I think I count better in compound, actually. But yeah I've written a novel. Next time you sub stick to identifying key signatures. Concert choir is mostly just there for the art credit.
I speak as THE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT. Also, I'm your total average slacker girl that you would probably hate if you had me in a regular class. I can't speak for the high school kids of the world, but I can speak for myself. Personally, I don't feel motivated to learn things that are not interesting to me. For example, if it happened to be a history, government, english or chorus class I would be Miss Participation. I'd stay awake for 98% of the semester and I'd make great friends with my teacher. However, when I get BORED... I get lazy. Ah yes, lazy. The number one word to describe farragut's children. C-dawg, we don't want to work any harder than we have to in the classes that dont' matter to us. We just want to get a good enough grade to get the hell out of there.
BUT there are ways to get around this, I believe. I think the problem with most teachers is their lack of creativity. I cannot learn or stay awake when we have to get out our books and do worksheets by ourselves every single day. Teachers need to acknowledge the different types of learning styles and try to incorporate them all. Of course this can't and wont happen with all teachers, but it surely does seperate the good from the bad.
As for teaching compound time to concert choir... you brave soul, you. We haven't even started compound in advanced womens yet. I don't really understand why it's hard.. I think I count better in compound, actually. But yeah I've written a novel. Next time you sub stick to identifying key signatures. Concert choir is mostly just there for the art credit.
# posted by : 5:49 AM
: 5:49 AM
It is probably a mix of everything you've said, part of what rachel and (I believe) Jenna said, and partly the consequences of social psychology. I would imagine since you were a sub, that they felt they wouldn't be held responsible for any actions they commited. You end up not being the authority figure because you don't see them enough, so they just assume they can do whatever they want. On a side note, some of my baseball players have had you a few times for various things (they are both ensemble kids, but I was under the impression you had drama stuff with them).
~Brian
~Brian
# posted by : 8:05 PM
: 8:05 PM
Actually I am a sub whore and teach wherever they want me. I have taught chorus, drama, world history, algebra II, geometry, english, and financial planning. My life sucks...
Hey I am a sub too and I know what you mean. On the other hand, I spent a lot of high school stoned. So who am I to judge?
Today I was subbing P.E. and the other regular teacher told that all I had to do was stand by the locker door and make sure no one tried to sneak out the back way. God, what irony I had to laugh to myself. I spent half my high school career sneaking or trying to sneak out of gym. That is if I did not ditch it outright.
I do wonder what some of those knuckleheads are going to do with their lives. I am sure I will see some of them as I drive through the drive through window at McDonalds and others will surprise us.
What I always try to keep in mind is that I am there to take attendance not to “mold young minds.”
Thanks I enjoy your site
Today I was subbing P.E. and the other regular teacher told that all I had to do was stand by the locker door and make sure no one tried to sneak out the back way. God, what irony I had to laugh to myself. I spent half my high school career sneaking or trying to sneak out of gym. That is if I did not ditch it outright.
I do wonder what some of those knuckleheads are going to do with their lives. I am sure I will see some of them as I drive through the drive through window at McDonalds and others will surprise us.
What I always try to keep in mind is that I am there to take attendance not to “mold young minds.”
Thanks I enjoy your site
Funny how your own sins come back to haunt you when you teach. Regardless of the subject matter students rarely, if ever, want to let the teacher know they liked the lesson. It just isn't cool and isn't done. Shame that it is that way. Teachers could really benefit from more feedback than a slightly raised eyebrow, or looking over a student's shoulder and realize he/she is taking notes, or even better, hearing from another room or around a corner your words being spoken by a student to yet another student. Even something you guys were passionate about became such a silly stupid argument that the lesson was NEVER taught because the group refused to listen to thoughts expressed in print about improvisation. I was hoping for debate about the lesson, not refusal to hear the prompt.
The trip to Chicago was boycotted by the bulk of the cast. Oh well, the past can only be history if I learn from it. I am trying to as I re-enter the profession. I don't listen to the grumbling as much as I did at FHS. I move forward and try to engage the class with lessons that challenge them and hopefully get them out of their seat. That has been my strength. I hope you find yours, Christopher. I pray to find success in the classroom. On the way, remember to say "hi" to the Cases, Raglands, Parangs, Marlers, Dunns, Cascios, Tribbeys, Bonners,and Marshburns, etc. They will be there. The roles are played by different actors. Be kind and turn the other cheek.
B
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The trip to Chicago was boycotted by the bulk of the cast. Oh well, the past can only be history if I learn from it. I am trying to as I re-enter the profession. I don't listen to the grumbling as much as I did at FHS. I move forward and try to engage the class with lessons that challenge them and hopefully get them out of their seat. That has been my strength. I hope you find yours, Christopher. I pray to find success in the classroom. On the way, remember to say "hi" to the Cases, Raglands, Parangs, Marlers, Dunns, Cascios, Tribbeys, Bonners,and Marshburns, etc. They will be there. The roles are played by different actors. Be kind and turn the other cheek.
B
# posted by : 2:48 AM
: 2:48 AM << Home
