The Sincerest Form of Flattery
I had a student offer to teach the class today. I had just finished attendance and fired up the projector for a power-point presentation on the physics of fluids, when one of the darlings offered to present it to the class. She's not one of my top performers, but she is smart and generally has a good attitude. I don't doubt that she would be an "A" student if she felt that my class was more important than sports.
So I handed her the remote and sat down in her seat. I'm game.
She read the first couple of slides very well, without making it sound like she was just reading. She kept looking around the room to see who was paying attention, and she patrolled a little bit, like teachers are supposed to do. But after the first couple of slides, I was in for two big surpises.
1) She did an impression of me that was very funny,
2) These kids really do pay attention.
I sometimes come home after work and tell Mrs. Wulf that throughout the course of the day, not one damned kid listened to one damned thing I said all damned day. It's so frustrating, considering the amount of time I spend preparing the lessons, and considering how much I could be making in another field. But today, when this student started doing her impression of me, she and the class convinced me that they do listen, and they have been learning.
It started with a deepening of her voice, and soon the mention of "Back when I was in the Navy...", which everybody appreciated. And soon, she was ad-libbing some connections between the images and definitions shown on these slides, and those from previous chapters. "You remember this equation from previous chapters," and "Think back to the last chapter; I mentioned polar molecules. Do you remember why?" Several students called out, "Ionic compounds!" That really blew me away, because nobody got that right on the test.
Some of the slides have questions on them. The students somehow knew all but one - they were really having a ball. And when nobody knew the answer to that one question, I raised my hand. When called upon, of course, I said...
"Can I go to the bathroom?"
Turnabout is fair play.
So I handed her the remote and sat down in her seat. I'm game.
She read the first couple of slides very well, without making it sound like she was just reading. She kept looking around the room to see who was paying attention, and she patrolled a little bit, like teachers are supposed to do. But after the first couple of slides, I was in for two big surpises.
1) She did an impression of me that was very funny,
2) These kids really do pay attention.
I sometimes come home after work and tell Mrs. Wulf that throughout the course of the day, not one damned kid listened to one damned thing I said all damned day. It's so frustrating, considering the amount of time I spend preparing the lessons, and considering how much I could be making in another field. But today, when this student started doing her impression of me, she and the class convinced me that they do listen, and they have been learning.
It started with a deepening of her voice, and soon the mention of "Back when I was in the Navy...", which everybody appreciated. And soon, she was ad-libbing some connections between the images and definitions shown on these slides, and those from previous chapters. "You remember this equation from previous chapters," and "Think back to the last chapter; I mentioned polar molecules. Do you remember why?" Several students called out, "Ionic compounds!" That really blew me away, because nobody got that right on the test.
Some of the slides have questions on them. The students somehow knew all but one - they were really having a ball. And when nobody knew the answer to that one question, I raised my hand. When called upon, of course, I said...
"Can I go to the bathroom?"
Turnabout is fair play.
posted by Wulf at
8:14 PM
3 Comments:
Isn't this sort of thing great -- that we can play with them in a positive way? I love your response.
Awhile back my cherubs had to research a bit to teach the class as part of the background of The Odyssey. One of my best did an amazing job -- so good, in fact, that I just had to be a kid. I began a conversation with another student -- who did her best to ignore me without breaking into laughter; I asked an inane question, and the student who was teaching 'handled' me the same way I would have -- a warning followed by a conference in the hallway. He was quiet and firm when asking me to step out for a talk. I sauntered out behind him with all the confidence of a ninth-grader showing off for friends. When we reached the hallway and the door shut, he turned to me, but wasn't quite sure what to do next -- really reprimand me (risky, that) or what. I said, "We'll go back in -- I'll be behind you like this." And I did the head-down-eyes-on-the-floor-shoulders-slumped posture of a truly reprimanded student. We did; they laughed, and I sat down and behaved myself. He went on teaching -- it was awesome.
By
graycie, at 12:08 PM
Graycie, you sound like you have a lot of fun in the classroom. I imagine the students will all remember that day.
By
Wulf, at 7:45 PM
Hah! That bathroom bit was juuuuust right.
When my kids do presentations, they suddenly get a whole new idea about that "easy" teaching job.
Good work there.
By
"Ms. Cornelius", at 5:32 PM
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