1) Do teachers have favorites?
Absolutely. I can't remember how I "picked" mine though. It certainly wasn't the ones who came up to me the most. Often, those students ended up being the attention seekers as opposed to those most interested in the class. Names often sparked my interest. Uncommon (but not stupid) names. I often favored students who weren't as outspoken and less than stereotypical.
2) Should we ban phones from school?
No. Simply because the previous framework didn't work doesn't mean we should remove phones altogether. Teachers didn't get their phones taken away, right? Students cell phone use during instructional time should be closely monitored and strictly enforced. Neither was true prior to the "no phones" rule.
3) Why homework?
The classroom is for instruction. Home is for mastery. There are some skills that simply can't be mastered in the time allotted at school. A musician who only plays during their lesson would never improve. Why should math, science, or reading be any different? Obviously, how quantity and quality figure into it matters.
4) What happens in the teachers' lounge?
The teachers' lounge can be a dangerous place - especially for new teachers. Along with eating lunch and making copies, there is a LOT of toxic behavior that goes on. Most of it is badmouthing administrators.
5) Should we have more useful courses?
Absolutely. Especially in math. Why Algebra 2, Trig, Pre-Calc, and Calc are still considered required (in part at the least) is beyond me. A Personal Finance course within the math department that covers budgeting, taxes, investing, retirement, insurance, etc would be a hell of a lot more useful than the quadratic equation.
6) AI in the classroom
AI is a tool. Like a calculator. We (should) use calculators in the classroom. Same with AI. But it is the teachers job the teach students how and when to use it.
7) Do grades matter?
Of course. Is screwing up a class the end of the world? No! Heck, is screwing up all of high school the end of the world? No way. But it sure puts you on the back foot for future success.
8) Do teachers play movies when they're tired/haven't-planned/worn-out?
Good ones don't. I'll stand by that all day long. The teacher in the video, a math teacher, mentions playing Love on the Spectrum in class - but they discussed it afterwards. As if that made it OK. A movie should be directly related to a standard on the curriculum. There are plenty of ways to incorporate movies and other media into the classroom while still being focused on the curriculum.
9) How much of an expert are you in your subject?
Compared to whom? I taught elementary music. I knew more about music than 95% of my colleagues -- about MUSIC. I was a music performance and composition major. Most of them were music ed majors. Which leads to the other thing teachers must be experts in -- TEACHING! I'd say 95% of them knew more about the pedagogical aspect than I did.
10) How do you create a curriculum?
You don't. The state does this for you.
11) Where is all the money going?
Great question. It isn't going to teacher salaries and it isn't going to things that directly affect student performance. I am going to guess a good deal goes towards security things nowadays. Retrofitting campuses, installing metal detectors/cameras/security systems. Another LARGE part goes to the machine that is standardized testing.
12) One piece of advice for high school students?
Nothing that happens is the end of the world. Don't sweat everything. There are those who attempt to min-max their life. That's so boring and joyless.
13) How would you react if a student corrects you in class?
The same way I would if someone corrected me outside of class. 1) HOW did they do it? Were they respectful? Or were they just trying to embarrass me? But most important, 2) Were they RIGHT? Correcting me when you're wrong will just piss me off.
14) What is the hardest part of teaching that no one talks about?
I'm speaking as a man here, but no one talks about the difficulties of planning trips to the bathroom once your prostate requires hourly trips.
15) Is this the worst time to become a teacher?
Leaving aside the time more than 100 years ago when a teacher could be fired for getting married and other such horrible acts, yes.
16) Why are kids so misbehaved in school?
Lack of accountability from the parents. It's horrendous.
17) Grading curves: yea or nay?
Depends. Any assignment, whether classwork or an exam, is supposed to assess whether a student has mastered a skill. Would a grading curve merely mean more students who haven't mastered the skill get a passing grade?
18) When you assign 7-10 page papers, do you actually read the whole thing?
I taught a Gordon Rule college course for several semesters. I absolutely read every page. And it pissed me off. About 10% of the class actually put effort into the paper. I put more effort into grading the papers than they spent writing them.
19) What should a high schooler study now?
Whatever the hell they want. Follow your curiosity. The only sin nowadays is to not be curious. Between Wikipedia and YouTube, there's no excuse for a student to NOT be an expert in a half dozen topics before they graduate.
20) As a teacher, it shouldn't be my responsibility to care for my students' mental wellbeing.
I agree 100%. A teacher should absolutely care about their students' mental wellbeing, but saying they should be responsible for it implies they are mental health experts as well. A teacher should know enough about mental health to know when they should refer them to a mental health expert. Anything else would be practicing medicine without a license.
Original video: https://youtu.be/Hm2HmT-M2lk?si=1oyZkcYZSEKqOxc5
No comments:
Post a Comment