I should have known better and listened to Chad
This year, during my time off from the academy, I have had the privilege of substitute teaching in the local public school system. I’ll admit, the past three months have had their ups and downs. But one thing I have learned is that in my relationship with God, God has persuaded me to go certain schools and areas that have either children from impoverished neighborhoods on the other side of the tracks, or to special education classes including behavior improvement, and lastly, English-as-Second-Language schools.
I must confess something. I think that although I was for the most part generous (um, like bending the rules on electronic devices for high schoolers), there was the colder, individualistic side of me that appeared, especially when it was time for students to take a test that I gave out. Sometimes, I would blame it on the inner scholar in me, in my quest for integrity. But, lately, I have been thinking about this article, where some suggest Democratic and Republican professors grade differently in the classroom. As a libertarian, and as someone who grew up taking Honors and AP classes, my expectations for all students are high; I treat students as individuals, and I could care less what their reputations normally are with the regular teacher. Perhaps it is this objectivity that gets me into trouble, that I was willing to write up even the seemingly nicest kid it he crossed me the wrong way (of course, I did).
However, I think I was insensitive today. Last week, I discussed with PJ’s own Optymystic Chad about how I normally discourage group work when it comes to assignments, since it should be every person for themselves. Chad said that even though I may be right for sticking to this rule, our invidualistic brand of education is not necessarily right. I agree with ole Optymyst, partially. But today, at an ESL high school ,with mostly recently immigrated students (within past 5 years), when they asked if they could use books, or even a dictionary, I sternly said NO!!! The negative answer was in response to several students remaining to be rude to me and even the principal at one point. I should not have done so. This was a little inconsiderate, but I informed the teacher that the class did not use books, so it may work out in the end.
I should have listened to Chad, and my better me (as Joel Olsteen Watts talks about).
So I was wrong, and I’ll try to be less individualistic in certain circumstances the next time.
