About four years ago, I bought my house on Lake Louise in Ortonville. My wife and I live there now, but for a while it was just me. When I first moved in, some of the neighbors were having trouble properly receiving me as a fellow homeowner and tried to figure out ways to talk bad about me rather than take the time to find out who I was or what I was about. They assumed that because I was young, I was renting the house... which obviously meant that I was going to trash the place, burn couches on my front lawn, have loud parties until 5AM and drive my boat past their no wake zone signs and right through their living rooms.
It took some extreme initial work on my part, but I finally got a chance to speak with most of my neighbors in a one on one scenario. At each point, I tried to find out a little bit about the person. I found that two houses down loves to talk about stocks, 3 houses down will only talk if he is in his garden or doing yard work, and next door will seem as if they are gone for 3 weeks (I won't see them once), but as soon as I have a party, or people come over, they love to come out and take part in whatever we are doing.
And the point.... communication. All it took was for me to start up some sort of conversation with each of these neighbors, and we have been blood brothers ever since. Each student is going to come into class with a bit of a chip on his or her shoulder. This is because we are teachers. It is our job to find a way to communicate with them. Whether it be asking them about other classes, finding out how their game went the night before, or what they want to be when they grow up (if they ever do). Once we have that open line of communication, we will be more effective teachers. It is also our job to develop various forms of communication. When I first heard about the teacher who holds office hours over instant messaging I thought it was a little weird. However, that chat might be the best way that a child can ask his or her question. It may allow them to open up and receive help that they have been too afraid to verbally ask for. So please, identify a specific way to get through to each of your students and I am sure they will love you for it.
And on a side note, just last week we had our lake association meeting, and all of my neighbors asked me if I would run for office. How things have changed with just a few conversations and interest in others.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What a great post, Phil...very inspiring and most germane. You make me think about those people who might identify themselves as being "bad at science" or "hopeless at Physics," etc. I think that your example might be relevant as you think about trying to reach some of those students too, eh?
ReplyDelete