Rejuvination

Throughout this chapter of Teaching Hope, each entry told the story of a new teacher and the rays of hope that they get from their job. The success of each teacher or student makes the teaching profession worthwhile against the odds of poor pay, unpaid after hours work, and more "clients" than any high paying lawyer would ever work for at once. I thoroughly enjoyed entry 112. The teacher in this scenario was a teacher with all the odds stacked against him. Working with troubled youth in a live-in facility for little money, he admits he contemplated quitting. I feel that most teachers worth their salt have these moments: they are at the breaking point where nothing can go right, test scores are down, Billy just punched Jimmy and Sally is gossiping about Kelsey, nobody liked the new youtube video shown at the beginning of class, and the list goes on. It is when that one student has a break through that it becomes worth all of the pain and strife to get there. In the case of the teacher in #112, the break through came in the form of a break down. His student goes absolutely crazy and flips out, throwing things, punching walls and people, and pouring water across the room. In a moment of mutual amusement, they connected to diffuse the situation. In this case the teacher was able to sweep the assault under the rug, choosing the best for the student. The teacher made sure to make the student aware of his lucky position. I feel that this instills a great deal of respect between the student and teacher. Where many teachers in a normal school would hand out a detention or ISS and not think twice, sometimes it is best to take a moment to create a teachable moment. Reach the student and teach them that there are better alternatives to certain classroom behaviors. I feel that students get discouraged when they are constantly harshly punished but when they feel that they are respected they are more likely to behave during class. Why don't we take a minute to try to understand why our students are acting out instead of just writing them off and immediately punishing them? I know I will try my best.