Two new posts in one day? I must be in a ranting mood!!
I'm sure this one will spark some interesting debate......
As teachers, are we the worst exhibitors of double standards when it comes to classroom expectations? When we are teaching or addressing or classes, what are our expectations for the children? While we all (hopefully!) encourage interactive learning, do we have expectations for how children go about this? Do we expect children to show manners and model appropriate behaviours for interactive learning to occur?
Consider the following scenarios and how you would react if this happened when you were teaching:
* While addressing your class, small groups of children just carried on with their own conversations, oblivious to what you were saying....
* Children interupt you mid sentence without waiting for an appropriate moment to do so, or signalling to you they had some input to contribute....often with points you were getting to anyway.....
* Children in your class are too busy playing / typing on computers to actually be listening to what you say....
* When given time to discuss / share about a topic in groups, students gather others around to show them a clip / photo / something on their computer instead....
* Chilldren who were displaying one or a combination of the behaviours above then ask about information / content you have just discussed in the lesson.....
* The same children then answer you back with total lack of respect or appropriate tone when you don't regurgitate the information specifically for them....
Very few teachers I know of would accept this as appropriate behaviours in their classrooms, yet these are all behaviours I regularly observe at teacher meetings / conferences etc....And as lead teachers / management, we are supposed to just accept this?....
How do you deal with these situations in class? What would you say to the student who was displaying these behaviours? Are we the biggest exploiters of "Do as I say, not as I do"?
Hmmmmm.........
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In answer to your question. Yes, teachers, as a profession, are probably one of the biggest exploiters of the "Do as I say, not as I do" type of attitude. Unfortunately, i'm not sure why this is. For some teachers it may be part of a controlling 'power game' they like to play. For others it may just be sheer lack of respect for those around them. Either way, it's unacceptable. I'm a believer in "treat others as you want to be treated". I guess others aren't. Guess that's what makes life so interesting huh!?
ReplyDeleteIt is a tricky one. I hear what you are saying loud and clear. I'm all for hums of agreement, but so often I find myself in situations when I know that I should be telling the 'inappropriate chatters' to 'zip it', but find myself ignoring the chat the best that I can. A goal for myself this year might be to front up and, when appropriate, let colleagues know that they need to button up and listen up. Levels of respect seem to be dipping in so many areas of day to day life in society, unfortunately this is just another display of this.
ReplyDeleteA very valid rant!
Well done Matt, it is time the pink elephant in the room became visible and stands up. I am in full agreement - are we wimps I wonder and helping this double standards?
ReplyDeleteJo
Hmmmm, good point Jo. By allowing this to happen regularly are we condoning / empowering this sort of behaviour?...
ReplyDelete