It's never a good sign when you walk into an inclusion class as the inclusion teacher and the whole class starts booing at you. It's worse when the lead teacher doesn't say anything.
It's also not a good sign when your students stare at you in amazement when you lie and say you're 26. It's worse when they tell you that you look like a teenager.
It's a pretty bad sign when your goth kids tell you that you wear too much black. It's even worse when they ask you, curiously, why your hair is sticking up today.
It's not a good sign when your kids are running around, refusing to listen and rolling on the ground making barnyard noises during Reading class. It's worse when a mentor from a group that gave you a scholarship comes to observe you that very moment. It's beyond bad when the mentor has to pitch in and work with some of the kids because you can't manage your class.
The law of averages says that 50% of all experiments fail. As you get better at something, you increase your chance of success. But if you find you are never failing, then you are not challenging yourself.
Thanks for being so honest. You know what? Everyone has days like you had, but few are honest enough to talk about them. When you are doing the type of work you are doing, an observer will not walk in to see 20 kids with their hands folded in front of them on the desk. By definition, you are doing the tough stuff.
I worry less about kids with spikey hair who are rolling on the ground in class. I worry about the adults whose anti-social behavior affects millions, like those who lie to the American people about the reason to go to war or who try to justify spying and torture.
You are doing a great job. And your students know it, too. Believe me, they do.
Posted by: Phil Nash | March 07, 2006 at 07:38 AM