From the working business to the "people business"

[nwfisch]

Last spring I underachieved in school and I was working too much both on schoolwork and at work. It hit me after the semester that I was too worried about getting As and putting groceries on a shelf. I needed to reassess where I wanted to go in life and who I want to be.

I adapted the idea from Marc Trestman, who spent his whole life worrying about getting first downs instead of developing meaningful relationships with people. I can't spend my whole life as a future teacher grading papers and my whole life worrying about items on a shelf. I have to make meaningful relationships with people, and that is where I'm most successful. I have to work in the business of making my students better students both inside my classroom and out in the real world.

With me finding out who I was again, I did a lot better this past fall and have been a lot happier.

I guess the reason for this minirant is I have a professor who doesn't really subscribe to this theory. It's frustrating, but I'm doing the best I can do to succeed. I just think about the shallow life she leads worrying about arbitrary paper grades, rubrics, assignments, etc. when she is missing out on so much on developing relationships with her students and helping them not only improve their understanding of her class topic, but also helping the students become successful outside of her classroom in the real world. Its frustrating to see this now, but it provides a good example of what I don't want to be as a future teacher.

 

[Crystallas]

Future teacher. Sounds like a procrastinator. What stops you from achieving your goals now?

 

[Mitchapalooza]

Do you viciously beat your students when the Bears lose?

Sent from Cuba

 

[nwfisch]

Future teacher. Sounds like a procrastinator. What stops you from achieving your goals now?

My goals are getting achieved. Just saying the hoops I jump through are like PT Barnum's circus sometimes.

 

[nwfisch]

Do you viciously beat your students when the Bears lose?

Sent from Cuba

THEY GOT HIT WITH A BASEBALL AT RECESS

 

[clonetrooper264]

Last spring I underachieved in school and I was working too much both on schoolwork and at work. It hit me after the semester that I was too worried about getting As and putting groceries on a shelf. I needed to reassess where I wanted to go in life and who I want to be.

I adapted the idea from Marc Trestman, who spent his whole life worrying about getting first downs instead of developing meaningful relationships with people. I can't spend my whole life as a future teacher grading papers and my whole life worrying about items on a shelf. I have to make meaningful relationships with people, and that is where I'm most successful. I have to work in the business of making my students better students both inside my classroom and out in the real world.

With me finding out who I was again, I did a lot better this past fall and have been a lot happier.

I guess the reason for this minirant is I have a professor who doesn't really subscribe to this theory. It's frustrating, but I'm doing the best I can do to succeed. I just think about the shallow life she leads worrying about arbitrary paper grades, rubrics, assignments, etc. when she is missing out on so much on developing relationships with her students and helping them not only improve their understanding of her class topic, but also helping the students become successful outside of her classroom in the real world. Its frustrating to see this now, but it provides a good example of what I don't want to be as a future teacher.

I think you got it right buddy. Especially in the education field, relationship building skills far surpass the annoyance of papers that need grading. You have a chance to make a significant impact in the lives of your students, I wouldn't put that aside for the monotonous tasks that teaching happens to entail. Imo, you teach to make a difference, not just for the sake of teaching.

There's so much more to life than getting A's or putting everything on shelves as quickly and efficiently as possible. They have their merits and of course if you achieve those things, great, but really, no one's gonna care later. Relationships you build with others though, that's stuff that gets remembered and makes a difference.

 

[Crystallas]

My goals are getting achieved. Just saying the hoops I jump through are like PT Barnum's circus sometimes.

I know. Part of me is giving you a hard time, the other part hopes you might think what I said over a bit. Unofficial students learn more than official students, and I believe the same can be said with teachers(for those willing to teach and wanting to learn).

 

[nwfisch]

I know. Part of me is giving you a hard time, the other part hopes you might think what I said over a bit. Unofficial students learn more than official students, and I believe the same can be said with teachers(for those willing to teach and wanting to learn).

Well...that's why you're the man of the house around here .

 

[Omeletpants]

Future teacher, god help your future students with all this psycho babble

 

[nwfisch]

Future teacher, god help your future students with all this psycho babble

I'm surprised you can talk with the mess on your chin.

 

[Omeletpants]

I'm surprised you can talk with the mess on your chin.

I have read a lot of your posts so Im think best you get a job where you dont have to deal with people

 

[nwfisch]

I have read a lot of your posts so Im think best you get a job where you dont have to deal with people

 

[Omeletpants]

See, you cant get along with people, especially bad spellers

 

[nwfisch]

See, you cant get along with people, especially bad spellers

It wasn't bad spelling you turkey, it was bad grammar.

 

[Iwritecode]

Last spring I underachieved in school and I was working too much both on schoolwork and at work. It hit me after the semester that I was too worried about getting As and putting groceries on a shelf. I needed to reassess where I wanted to go in life and who I want to be.

I adapted the idea from Marc Trestman, who spent his whole life worrying about getting first downs instead of developing meaningful relationships with people. I can't spend my whole life as a future teacher grading papers and my whole life worrying about items on a shelf. I have to make meaningful relationships with people, and that is where I'm most successful. I have to work in the business of making my students better students both inside my classroom and out in the real world.

With me finding out who I was again, I did a lot better this past fall and have been a lot happier.

I guess the reason for this minirant is I have a professor who doesn't really subscribe to this theory. It's frustrating, but I'm doing the best I can do to succeed. I just think about the shallow life she leads worrying about arbitrary paper grades, rubrics, assignments, etc. when she is missing out on so much on developing relationships with her students and helping them not only improve their understanding of her class topic, but also helping the students become successful outside of her classroom in the real world. Its frustrating to see this now, but it provides a good example of what I don't want to be as a future teacher.

You’ll run into this in pretty much any profession.

There are plenty of people that just want to go in, do their work, get paid and leave. Then there are people that actually want to make some sort of difference in the world with their job.

 

[NCChiFan]

I am under no illusions that teaching has to be done in one way and one way only to be successful. I'm assuming you're teaching lower grades, because as you go higher in your education the less interaction on a personal level you get to have with your students. If she prefers a different method than you, fine, glean what you need from her, adapt what you can and move on. There is no "perfect" teaching method, because we students are all different with different needs, different methods of motivation, different abilities to learn and different personalities.

I would believe that adaptability with the goal of giving each kid the best shot of reaching their level of incompetence would be most important. Edit: I have always subscribed to, "The Peter Principle" everyone rises to their level of incompetence, hence my meaning in using that word.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

If you think you're going to learn how to be a teacher from a professor you are wasting your time.

 

[nwfisch]

If you think you're going to learn how to be a teacher from a professor you are wasting your time.

Sigh.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Let me give you some free advice: She doesn't need to develop a relationship with her students. She knows the people who sign up for her class want to be there. As you enter teaching, and this is advice coming from a guy whose done it for the past 7 years, it's hard to teach kids who don't want to be there. In that case, yes, developing a relationship with you students is important. Not with your professor.

Sigh all you want, but if you actually understand what my original statement said - you probably would not have.

By the way, when you are criticizing her for her 'shallow life' and caring about rubrics - I hope you realize that (I would guess) around 90% of principals across the country are going to want to see you develop a rubric for a project based assessment for your students.

But what would I know? I'm just the guy already in the career you hope to enter.

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Also: if you're worried now about jumping through a PT Barnum circus - find a new career asap.