The Mean Teacher

Here is something I don't understand: the teacher who is proud of student failure.

Does it make you feel tough? Strong? Smart?

To be smarter than a bunch of students who are either willingly or not putting their learning in your hands?

Teachers have a tough time in America these days. We are definitely not afforded the respect we are due.

However, if you're out there saying things like, "No one gets an A on my tests." YOU ARE A BIG PART OF THE PROBLEM.

Teaching in an online format requires a lot of things that don't normally happen in a regular classroom.

An online teacher needs the support of the school (or parent, if homeschooled) to monitor tests, to report grades, and to act as a go-between when there is difficulty. The majority of my interactions with these people we call mentors is when I send them an email to confirm that a student was absent and so they can have an extension on their assignment or to let them know that a student has fallen behind.

Some mentors will talk to me as a peer- I am, after all - and work with me to help the student succeed.

Some mentors treat me as the enemy. They make excuses for their student. He is taking classes at a college in addition to high school.  She has 7 AP classes. He is student council president. She has an internship.

Mentors: I understand. I totally get it. I have the best students at schools all over the state. And a few not even in this state. They are all way too overcommitted, but that's another blog post. However, they signed up for this class. It's 100% an elective course. But it's a college level elective. And if they don't do the work, they will fail. I won't give them a failing grade, they will have earned it.

I didn't do that to them. They did it to themselves. I'm available a ridiculous amount to answer questions, to help them, to re-teach the work. I actually want to do that! I love meeting with the kids! It's the best part of my job. If they don't want to talk to me "live," that fine, all of my videos & notes are available on my site, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I want them to get it. I want them to love the way the economic world works the same way I do. I want them to hear a story on the radio and get excited because they understand why the Saudis are pushing oil production or why banks got in trouble for foreign exchange fraud.

So teachers who say NO one gets an A. Screw you. I am so happy when my students do well. I get so excited when I see a kid who has been struggling get 100% on a quiz. I send them emails congratulating them on their work. If you deny yourself that happiness, that's on you, terrible teacher.

I'm not gonna lie...

Why Teachers Lie About Their Classrooms - at The Atlantic

I don't lie about my teaching. I'm just never going to tell you the whole truth.

Yes, there's a kid who is falling asleep/cheating/texting while another kid has an epiphany. And tomorrow, the roles could be reversed. I literally don't care about the kid not paying attention.

When I was in the classroom, and now when I have group or individual sessions, or when I'm recording a lecture, I give 100% of myself to my students. I give that 100% to the students who give me 100% back. On any given day, that student could be a different person.

I don't hold it against them. If you and your mom got in a fight before school and she took your phone, you're probably distracted and not paying attention. It's nothing personal.

In my last 2 years in the classroom, the phrase "I'm not gonna lie..." was extremely popular. It would often precede a statement not worth lying about. "I'm not gonna lie, this was the best chicken biscuit ever. "

Sometimes, it preceded a hard truth. "I'm not gonna lie, class was really boring today, L-Mar."

I appreciated their honesty mainly because it gave me an opportunity to respond. Usually, it was, "You're right, the Puritans suck and I can't wait to be done with them." This was followed by laughter on both sides- they're not used to teachers admitting that something they teach is pretty awful (sorry, dear reader, if you like the Puritans).  And secondly, they saw me as a human. Which will lead to more "I'm not gonna lie... " statements in the future, which will lead to a better teacher-student relationship, which will lead to more learning.

Other times, it gave me the opportunity to notice that while the rest of the class was heatedly discussing the evils of Commie-chasing, this student was completely checked out and bored.

"Why were you bored?" "It was dumb."

"What's going on in your other classes?" "Ugh, everything is so lame right now. I think all of you teachers decided not to do anything interesting this week."

" How are things between you and your brother/mom/dad?" "My dad moved out yesterday."
(me, silently... AND THERE WE HAVE IT.)

also applies to teaching.

When I talk to my colleagues at lunch that day, do I share how the Puritans suck? Nope. I'm going to tell them about how my 2nd block was SUPER ENGAGED and everyone was making AWESOME CONNECTIONS between the Red Scares of the 1920s and 1950s.

I'm not gonna lie, but after you've been teaching a while, you get selective memory. You remember the awesome stuff and there seems to be more of it every day. You remember the really horrible stuff. But you don't remember the stuff in between.