Teaching

Teaching. I’ve wanted to post something about teaching for a while now. Perhaps a list of my “words of wisdom?” Sure.

1.       At night, in your head, imagine all of the really mean things that you are going to say to the student: God, you’re stupid. You will never get anywhere. You’re kidding, right? However, the next day, when you have to teach, put all of these out of your mind. The kids are already half-terrified of your (which is a good thing), but if you really do become a wicked witch you lose a vital relationship between student and teacher.

2.       As much as you want to pass on “words of wisdom” I don’t think they ever get it. They WILL go out and get drunk. They WON’T start early on their papers. They WON’T take the assignment seriously until crunch time. They DO think they are good writers, even though they wouldn’t know a grammatically correct sentence if it hit them in the head. Although this doesn’t stop me from trying. Maybe one kid out of 20 will realize that they need to take school seriously, or really, what’s the point?

3.       There are a couple of students that you really can help. Those are the ones that come to your office and really try. Although you may be annoyed by their “dumb” questions, remember that you were young and dumb once too. You don’t know what type of ignorant background they have to overcome to become decent human beings.

4.        Your students really think that you don’t know when they are: on Facebook during class time, texting their friends, not listening, or plagiarizing. Occasionally (every time when it comes to plagiarism), let them know that you know.

5.       Although it’s in your nature, don’t be a control freak. The students have to be active in their own learning and if you try to rewrite their paper for them it won’t help anyone.

6.       In addition to #5, DO teach self-reliance. The old adage applies here, “If you give a man a fish he will have a single meal. If you teach him how to fish, he will eat for a lifetime.” This can mean little things, like explaining how to look up an answer rather than giving it to them. This can annoy your students, because they enjoy the easy way out, but it’s better for them.

7.       You can’t be friends with your students, while they’re your students. It just gets weird. You can be friendly though. It is your job to teach them, not to be their buddy. Remember, these are skills they will use (even if they don’t know it).

8.       Even if the student never plans on writing anything for their “real” job, they still need to be able to communicate clearly and think logically/critically.

9.       Award good behavior, and be quick to praise.

10.   Punish bad behavior, but in a constructive way. This is difficult and it’s easy to be vindictive. However, never punishing bad behavior also teaches them that they can get away with it.

This is obviously not an exhaustive list and would love your additions!