Wednesday, May 9, 2012

300th post - sorry it's not more upbeat

Maybe I'm just a poor future teacher who doesn't truly understand what goes on in a classroom from day to day. Maybe I'm really clueless and idealistic. It just seems to me that once a person reaches the point in their teaching career where they don't honestly care about the success and well being of their students then that person should find a new career.

Kids these days have literally hundreds of negative influences and people telling them that they aren't good enough. Shouldn't the classroom be as safe and removed from that as possible?

Again, maybe I'm a crazy liberal with backwards ideas about real life, but shouldn't a teacher be someone a student can trust to be honest and accepting no matter what the situation? Isn't that the point of all of these classes I am taking? I'm learning how to provide instruction that includes and accepts students from every possible situation. If teaching is really just glorified babysitting and putting up with various problems as they arise then I should just be able to renew my CPR and first aid certifications and have at it, right? I mean, I have 12 years experience with babysitting. Why bother with all of these papers and readings about being culturally responsive and accepting if that has nothing to do with being a "real" teacher?

I have had the opportunity lately to meet some teachers who have made my blood boil. They tell children to their face and in notes home to parents that the child is a burden and the teacher does not have time to deal with them each day. They tell the parents to medicate the children because the child is a distraction and a menace in the classroom... never mind what might be best for the actual child in question. If there are legitimate issues, then work with the family to help them figure out the issues in a way that sets the child up for success.

My parents dealt with this to some extent with my younger brother and I know it made them angry. Now that I am seeing it from a teacher's perspective I am even more angry about it. These are KIDS for goodness sake. If a kindergartner makes jokes using toilet humor and it offends you, the problem is not the 5 year-old... the problem is YOU! Hate to break it to you, but kids are gross and they find all things related to bathrooms and underwear to be hilarious. If this offends your delicate sensibilities then please find another profession.

A child should not have to go through life thinking he or she is a dirty, shameful child just because his or her teacher didn't pay attention in child development class back in college.

Please note that these comments are about a few different teachers I have met recently outside of my courses at GSU and are in no way connected to my field placements within that program.

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