> On 11/01/09, questioning myself wrote:

>> She told me, in a nutshell, that she views my class as busy
>> work, that she's not learning anything, and that I never ask
>> her how various works of literature that we study make her
>> feel.

[Ask her if her Math teacher asks her about how the
quadratic equation makes her feel, or whether her Science
teacher asks her to feel her way through Bernouli's Principle.
Every course in any subject is an investigation through *reason*
not feeling. (And if the class found out how she "felt" about a
literary work, where would they go from there? ]

She also said our pace is way too fast.

[Well, considering the current penchant for "covering the
material" instead of concentrating in depth on representative
cases, that may well be right.]

Then she
>> said I play favorites with students I know from having
>> previously taught them (being a smaller school, I taught
>> about half of the students in her class at one point or
>> another for another class).

[Tell her to raise her hand and comment on the subject at
hand.]

>>
>> I was horrified, but thanked her for her opinion, asked her
>> for ideas about how she thought it might work better for
>> her, reiterated to her how much I appreciated and valued
>> that she came to me with her concerns, etc.

[What did she suggest as correctives?]

She wasn't
>> disrespectful, but she was rather defiant and emphatic about
>> her opinions. She also finished up the conversation by
>> saying how much better all of her other English teachers had
>> been.

[If those teachers are ones at your school, confer with
them and see how they may be better. ]

>>
>> Needless to say, this weekend has been one of
>> soul-searching, where I have been trying to ask myself tough
>> questions: do I give busy work (except when I have a
>> substitute)? do I show more attention to kids I know
>> previously? Etc., etc. I cried quite a bit, too, but I
>> take criticism a bit harshly so that's to be expected.

[Try as we may, we can't please all the students all the
time. Review what and how you are teaching - and why those are
right; if you are secure in those, forget these objections.]

I do assign more... group work,

[Oops! The instant the teacher leaves a group and is no
longer in charge of their discussion, he has left teaching. The
act of teaching is the recreation of the teacher's mind in the
minds of her students. This process cannot happen when the
teacher absents herself from one group and moves to another.]

>> In other words, it's not just a class based on discussion.

[It should be. Questions should be addressed to
*individual* students, then one's answer referred to another for
comment, the teacher directing the discussion to what she wants
the students to see.]

>> I find discussion harder to assess/organize so everyone's an
>> equal partner, etc., so if I am doing a discussion, often I
>> formulate it into small groups Socratic style with close
>> readings involved.

[Equality in discussion is secured by the teacher's
moving about among *individual* students with questions based on
the remarks of the last answering student. (This, of course,
requires the teacher to know exactly what she wants to students
to discover about the work at hand.)]

For instance, for our previous novel we
>> did this with each group splitting up chapters to look for
>> nuances in the language. When I asked her about this
>> activity, she said, "That was JUST one chapter!!" and rolled
>> her eyes.

[Can she move to another English course? If so, that is
probably best for her - and for you.]

In terms of favorites, I don't think I play
>> favorites. Oftentimes I will watch more closely kids I
>> think are falling through the cracks, either due to family,
>> social, or academic trouble. But I do this by asking them
>> questions in the hallway, or talking to them during the
>> school day but not during my class, if this makes sense.

[Probably. Does this complaining student want to so
addressed in the hallway?]

>> Anyway, I've been kept up at night with this, I haven't been
>> eating, and I've been freaking out, in a nutshell. Has this
>> ever happened to anyone else? Should I reconsider my
>> profession? Help!?

[Rest, perturbed spirit! Put this out of your mind and get
on with your good work.]

[L. Swilley]

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