Dear WeAreTeachers:
I teach high school art and each year we help select a senior as a department team who is most qualified not only on the basis of grade, but also by talent, attitude, diligence and growth. One of my students joined an advanced place art class with very little experience. He worked hard to catch and cross students who had previously been enrolled in several art classes. I asked her to attend the awards conference Blink of an eye But when I met him there, he said that he did not see his name in the program. I soon learned that our new mentor had changed A lot Last minute award recipients without talking to teachers. And this mentor used computer reporting and focused on GPA. I talked to my student and he pushed things forward, but I think it’s terrible. Please tell me if you think this is wrong too! – Disappointed and frustrated
Dear DD,
This is wrong and insensitive! The end of the year is already full of work and emotion. I can only imagine that drowning experience you must have felt. I can understand why you feel so frustrated. It is short-sighted for a new advisor to change the criteria without involving too many voices and approaches. They should talk to teachers or department heads about input criteria. I have worked in a large district where the new leadership does not value historical knowledge, and it was frustrating. It is also hypocritical for a counselor to participate in these types of activities and not feel their negative ripple effects. It is not right to make children feel bad and to put teachers in such a position.
This is an example of how schools focus on quantitative data in qualitative evidence of learning. Quantitative data is measurable, computable, and relates to numbers. Test scores are a good example. Often, teachers run reports and create graphs and pie charts, but numbers and percentages do not tell the whole story. Numbers can tell us how much, how much, and how often something decreases. Yes, we can measure progress and set goals. But this is a picture of a student. Although there is the ability to look at trends and patterns with numbers, qualitative data is also powerful.
Qualitative assessment includes teachers’ story notes emphasizing the use of language to describe predictability and control of ideas. This type of data includes observations, journals, and interviews with students. Often, qualitative assessment helps us to understand how and why students are learning. Teachers know students and have a more holistic view of the qualities associated with academic and social learning. Qualitative assessment is more personal and responsive and allows students to have more specific feedback and goal-setting.
I’m sure you did your best to support your frustrated student. I bet you explained why they were recognized. I also hope you keep some Specific Written response. This kind of positivity on a handwritten card or note can be more meaningful than a reward. It makes me think again: are the awards ceremonies worth it? Are there more unintended consequences than benefits? Awards conferences are often long and lack of material. Often, they create competition among students and can feel like popularity contests. The GiftedGuru blog explains how award ceremonies can “excite kids who worked hard (or even harder), as much as they might have achieved, but being the only one out there, didn’t get anything. When you say ‘If you did it Promise that you will get it, but you will not get it, that’s the problem.
Finally, be sure to talk to your principal about what happened. Share the impact with many students and teachers. Discuss how you want to be a part of the solution. Consider requesting a meeting with the advisor, administrator, and department to discuss what happened. Also, share the importance of involving teachers in creating criteria for rewards. You can advocate for a more holistic approach. Let’s try to use this failure as an opportunity to reflect and improve.
Dear WeAreTeachers:
My new principal is very excited about the year-end faculty performance at the School Talent Show. I am not They are dancing, and I think I have two left legs. I am self-conscious and am thinking of calling the patient for the day. Most employees are open and seem less restrictive than I am. I like to do things outside of my comfort zone, but for some reason it wants to crawl into the cave to hide me. I know kids and families love this kind of stuff and it would be remarkable if I didn’t. Practice begins this week. What is your advice? – Get out of my comfort zone
Dear WOOMCZ,
You know you’re not alone in your fear of having to perform in front of other people, are you? Many of us have some form of performance anxiety. WebMD describes how “being the center of attention and keeping an eye on you all can be stressful. Your body responds to this condition much the same way if you were attacked. Your body’s ‘fight-or-fly’ mechanism begins, so The symptoms are similar to the symptoms that appear when you are in real danger. “
Management thinker Judith Birdwick wrote a book, Danger in the comfort zone, Where he defined the concept. “Comfort zone is a behavioral state within which a person works in a worry-neutral state, using a limited set of behaviors to provide a stable level of performance, usually without a sense of risk.”
Yes, there are benefits to getting out of your comfort zone. It helps us to renew and improve systems, relationships and other dimensions of our lives. Pushing yourself to try new things can give you more confidence and some unexpected joy. That being said, if you’re driven by anxiety to an overriding point and you feel weak, start small. Maybe you try to learn some dance moves yourself at home or move on to your favorite music and see how it feels.
We all have different definitions of “fun”. Don’t try to beat yourself up for not wanting to demonstrate in front of the school. Your feelings are valid too! It is true that children and families love to see the playful, human side of teachers. Demonstrating talent requires all kinds of support. And there are many ways that you can still get involved without becoming a dancer / artist. Consider offering to help with music, costumes, decorations, performance introductions, or video recordings. Although it will take some courage, ask your principal to talk to you about finding other ways to get involved. Let them know that you want to help in a different way. As teachers, we are told to be responsive to the needs of our students. Well, that includes teachers!
Dear WeAreTeachers:
I am a middle school history teacher, and I have a student who challenges almost every subject I offer, especially around the race. He refuses to complete the assignment, saying the content goes against his beliefs and values. This student got up and said that there is no such thing as white privilege. He began to boast that the color was blind. I wholeheartedly believe in creating an inclusive classroom. Also, I want to hold space for different perspectives. However, other students have approached me saying that their comments are offensive. I have diverse classes, and I’m afraid they’ll feel inhuman. I am looking for a common ground. What is your advice? -Divided United States
Dear DSOA,
I can feel your heaviness, and I understand that you can feel frozen and unyielding. This is a normal response to a very layered and complex thing. Our country has suffered from ethnic oppression for hundreds of years. In his epic book Caste: The Origin of Our Dissatisfaction, Isabel Wilkerson explains, “Slavery was not just an unfortunate thing for black people. It was an American invention, an American institution created for the benefit of the elite of the dominant race and enforced by poor members of the dominant race who bound their conscience to the caste system.” As teachers, ignoring tough conversations doesn’t solve the problem. We have the responsibility and opportunity to create safe and courageous places for one-on-one conversations in the classroom.
Isabel Wilkerson goes on to describe the power of radical empathy: “Radical empathy … is the act of educating oneself and listening with humility to understand another’s experience from their point of view, not what we think. Radical empathy is not about you and what you think. What do you do in a situation where you have never been and probably never will be? It is an intimate relationship from a place of deep knowledge that opens your soul to the pain of others when they understand it. “
It is important to talk to each other about students who refuse to complete assignments. If they do not agree with the content, then it is their job to refute the ideas and prove their point. There is no alternative to staying away from work. I will also raise this question, how do you think your thoughts and comments are affecting others in the classroom? Building self-awareness is important to promote understanding and empathy.
It is clear to me that you are conscious of creating a positive classroom community where diverse perspectives are valuable. Although I know you want to respect this student’s perspective, we also need to advocate for human rights. You have students who are offended by the comments, and it needs to be addressed. I will start by setting the criteria for negotiation. Include ideas such as non-interference, critique of ideas, and listening to what is understood, not individual, and giving everyone a chance to speak. Criteria need to be established to turn tough conversations into treatments.
With clear criteria, discussions about the concept of being “color blind” will be less reactive and hopefully better for finding common ground. We can accept that some people have good intentions but we cannot feel the negative effects of this paradigm. Many experts are saying that color blind reasoning is making it difficult for us to move forward in a more empathetic way.
Samantha Vicente, senior writer for Oprah Daily, writes about the race: “Unfortunately, however, I can say for myself that some people still Really Don’t want to talk about it. Absolutely. They will be the first to point out that there is no racist bone in their body, and they do not care if you are white, black, purple, or blue, etc. In fact, they say, they’re ‘re-color blind’ – meaning they don’t See The race And refusing to do so would go hand in hand with a desperate desire to stop discussing racial inequalities as soon as possible. “The point is that we need to talk about race to address marginalization, dehumanization, and violence against people of color.
Thank you for being a teacher for Equity. The National Equity Project defines educational equity as achieving what each child needs to develop to its full educational and social potential. We need rebellious leaders who will take on difficult topics such as race and curate content to facilitate discussion and learning so that success and failure cannot be predicted by student race, economic, or any other social factor.
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Dear WeAreTeachers:
I have been teaching for 12 years now. For the past six years, I’ve been sharing a job with another teacher. She works Mondays and Tuesdays, and I work Wednesdays and Thursdays. We close business on Friday. He is an excellent teacher, and it has been such a wonderful partnership. We know we can trust each other. It was great when we both had babies and could cover each other for maternity leave. But now that my kids are a little older, I want to return full-time. I am the “owner” of the work, so this is my call, but I do not want to hurt my partner’s feelings. How can I break our friendship without ruining it?Want more advice columns? Visit our Ask WeAreTeachers hub.