the hard teacher

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High School Teachers Chatboard

the hard teacher

by lamaestra

Jun 9, 2013

I teach foreign language - there are five of us in our department. I guess I am old-fashioned, but I do not have the energy or desire to be a bouncy, youtube- using, game-playing, friendly teacher; the other 4 teachers are all of these things. They are much younger than I and had much different high school language experiences than I did (of course, my experiences are MUCH further removed!).

The problem is, I am now known as the "hard" or "mean" teacher. Probably even the boring teacher...and my grades tend to be lower. I do not want to compromise what I consider to be my teaching integrity by easing up. My students leave knowing much more than the other teachers' students, but they have to work MUCH harder.

I know administration is fielding requests from parents who want their children OUT of my class, and I can imagine that this is getting old for them. Do I give in and make it all fun and games ( I don't think I can do this...) or do I accept my dinosaur status a...See More

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lamaestra Thank you for responding...I, too, have wondered about the grading problems, and I am more than willing to play along, even though I do NOT believe that the A's we are awarding are indicative of A work. But you have given me a great deal to think about...

On 6/09/13, Vet teacher wrote: > On 6/09/13, lamaestra wrote: > > Our teac...See MoreThank you for responding...I, too, have wondered about the grading problems, and I am more than willing to play along, even though I do NOT believe that the A's we are awarding are indicative of A work. But you have given me a great deal to think about...

On 6/09/13, Vet teacher wrote: > On 6/09/13, lamaestra wrote: > > Our teaching styles usually come from inside ourselves and - > are hard to change. I could not fake being a mean teacher - I > couldn't hold the act for more than a day. > > In my experience, there are usually parents who want the hard > teacher - parents for whom it's a matter of pride and parents > with younger children whose older children were in your class > and the parents saw how much their children learned. > > What confuses me - and might confuse parents too - you say > your students leave knowing much more - then why are their > grades lower than other classes?? Grades should be a > reflection of mastery - and you say your students master the > language more than do other students, > > If you work your students harder - and their mastery is thus > greater - if you grade lower, you give then confusing and > frustrating messages to both your students and their parents > and - you risk making them angry as well as confused and > frustrated. >> I > If no one wants to be in your class.... Well I teach in a > charter school now and I could not keep my job if families > did want their children in my class. Parents here have a > choice of many schools. > > Why not talk to your administrators about it? My take is that > it's your lower grades that are the problem. Who wants to > work hard, learn more and then have grades 'that tend to be > lower?' > > What our admin might do for you is give you the best and the > brightest students and then market you to parents saying, "we > think your child should be in the Accelerated Class.' > > I'd also wonder if your school is such a rough one that you > feel you can't be warm at all. >> >> The problem is, I am now known as the "hard" or "mean" >> teacher. Probably even the boring teacher...and my grades >> tend to be lower. I do not want to compromise what I >> consider to be my teaching integrity by easing up. My >> students leave knowing much more than the other teachers' >> students, but they have to work MUCH harder. >> >> I know administration is fielding requests from parents who >> want their children OUT of my class, and I can imagine that >> this is getting old for them. Do I give in and make it all >> fun and games ( I don't think I can do this...) or do I >> accept my dinosaur status and call it quits? >> >> P.S. I do not think I am a better teacher than the others - >> I just have different expectations and methods.

Jun 9, 2013

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Linda This is when using a grading rubric across grade and content levels is not only helpful but imperative. We are beginning to use the CCSS across most states which will be helpful, but now we must hold students (and teachers) to the same standards of mastery. When students master the standards then we cannot grade them lower than that. I do believe t...See More

Jun 11, 2013

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Catsister The "easy" teachers may be covering less work than the "hard" teacher or they may have a lot of posters, collages, etc. to prop up their grades as opposed to tests. Or the "hard" teacher may be stricter about spelling errors and the like, which would bring test scores down. I don't think it's such a big deal, as long as the differences aren't extre...See More

Jun 11, 2013

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Old Teacher On 6/09/13, lamaestra wrote:

You can't be older than I am and I love youtube. I couldn't teach without it - it takes No energy to use youtube. There are English language cartoons that have been dubbed in Spanish. Have the kids translate the cartons.

Do you want to stop teaching? I think it would be awful to stop because you thin...See MoreOn 6/09/13, lamaestra wrote:

You can't be older than I am and I love youtube. I couldn't teach without it - it takes No energy to use youtube. There are English language cartoons that have been dubbed in Spanish. Have the kids translate the cartons.

Do you want to stop teaching? I think it would be awful to stop because you think you're out of date or out of step. I certainly do not have the energy I had 30 years ago but having less energy than younger teachers doesn't make them better teachers than I am.

I did have a colleague who would sleep on his desk in his free periods and his teaching was going downhill - his curriculum was stale. If I did 't change some things every year, I'd be bored.

I'd recommend "One Froggy Evening" - it's on youtube - watch it in English and then the Spanish language version.

I sense just a bit of defensiveness in what you say - warmth to students is not 'bouncy'. While you nicely say you don't regard yourself as a better teacher, there is a suggestion of derision whe.n you deem your younger colleagues 'bouncy and game-playing'. Modern children -in my opinion - have remarkably shorter attention spans and I don't see that changing any time soon. I've had to adjust my teaching in response to that or I would live at constant odds with students. The visuals that can be found on youtube offer valid teaching material that works to hold their attention and teach the lesson.

> I teach foreign language - there are five of us in our > department. I guess I am old-fashioned, but I do not have > the energy or desire to be a bouncy, youtube- using, > game-playing, friendly teacher; the other 4 teachers are > all of these things. They are much younger than I and had > much different high school language experiences than I did > (of course, my experiences are MUCH further removed!). > > The problem is, I am now known as the "hard" or "mean" > teacher. Probably even the boring teacher...and my grades > tend to be lower. I do not want to compromise what I > consider to be my teaching integrity by easing up. My > students leave knowing much more than the other teachers' > students, but they have to work MUCH harder. > > I know administration is fielding requests from parents who > want their children OUT of my class, and I can imagine that > this is getting old for them. Do I give in and make it all > fun and games ( I don't think I can do this...) or do I > accept my dinosaur status and call it quits? > > P.S. I do not think I am a better teacher than the others - > I just have different expectations and methods.

Jun 11, 2013

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Granjero Hi lamaestra!

I think Vet Teacher did give you some good points to consider, but also I think there are some very real and unique challenges to us as FL teachers - especially in the arena of perception of what we do. Many if not most people, even our colleagues in education, seem to think that if we just "show a video" that counts as viab...See MoreHi lamaestra!

I think Vet Teacher did give you some good points to consider, but also I think there are some very real and unique challenges to us as FL teachers - especially in the arena of perception of what we do. Many if not most people, even our colleagues in education, seem to think that if we just "show a video" that counts as viable, valid curricular content, and that that must be pretty much all we do. We both know that this is demonstrably false :)

I've been the bad guy and the "fun guy" and am currently quite content to be somewhere in between. I think one of the most powerful tools that we have in the classroom is to give students a voice in what they are doing. Have you considered putting together a brief questionnaire that you could conduct throughout the semester? I do this, and get running feedback from students about how they think the class is going, what I and we need to do better or more of, and what each of us can do. If you'd like I can email you some of the materials I use for this purpose - students have pretty much all commented on how they appreciate that their feedback matters in the conduct of the class.

Of course, I don't give them the keys to the asylum! :) But I do take their suggestions to mind and the suggestions you get might surprise you - They frequently point out to me things that I don't even realize that I am doing!

Keep your chin up! Cheers, Granjero

On 6/11/13, Old Teacher wrote: > On 6/09/13, lamaestra wrote: > > You can't be older than I am and I love youtube. I couldn't > teach without it - it takes No energy to use youtube. There > are English language cartoons that have been dubbed in > Spanish. Have the kids translate the cartons. > > Do you want to stop teaching? I think it would be awful to > stop because you think you're out of date or out of step. I > certainly do not have the energy I had 30 years ago but > having less energy than younger teachers doesn't make them > better teachers than I am. > > I did have a colleague who would sleep on his desk in his free > periods and his teaching was going downhill - his curriculum > was stale. If I did 't change some things every year, I'd be > bored. > > I'd recommend "One Froggy Evening" - it's on youtube - watch > it in English and then the Spanish language version. > > I sense just a bit of defensiveness in what you say - warmth > to students is not 'bouncy'. While you nicely say you don't > regard yourself as a better teacher, there is a suggestion of > derision whe.n you deem your younger colleagues 'bouncy and > game-playing'. Modern children -in my opinion - have > remarkably shorter attention spans and I don't see that > changing any time soon. I've had to adjust my teaching in > response to that or I would live at constant odds with > students. The visuals that can be found on youtube offer valid > teaching material that works to hold their attention and > teach the lesson. > > >> I teach foreign language - there are five of us in our >> department. I guess I am old-fashioned, but I do not have >> the energy or desire to be a bouncy, youtube- using, >> game-playing, friendly teacher; the other 4 teachers are >> all of these things. They are much younger than I and had >> much different high school language experiences than I did >> (of course, my experiences are MUCH further removed!). >> >> The problem is, I am now known as the "hard" or "mean" >> teacher. Probably even the boring teacher...and my grades >> tend to be lower. I do not want to compromise what I >> consider to be my teaching integrity by easing up. My >> students leave knowing much more than the other teachers' >> students, but they have to work MUCH harder. >> >> I know administration is fielding requests from parents who >> want their children OUT of my class, and I can imagine that >> this is getting old for them. Do I give in and make it all >> fun and games ( I don't think I can do this...) or do I >> accept my dinosaur status and call it quits? >> >> P.S. I do not think I am a better teacher than the others - >> I just have different expectations and methods.

Jun 14, 2013

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