Friday, April 25, 2008
3:24:54 PM
Students come to my class with things on their minds other than Language Arts. Even the most engaging lesson cannot compete with the loss of a boyfriend or that girl who said something to that boy and now the whole school knows. Students come to class expecting a boring lesson and a dumb assignment with no relevance. All they really want is for class to be short and get lots of free time to talk about their lives to their friends.
What I want is to be to be a teacher that can cause unwanted side effects.
I want to sneak up on unsuspecting young adolescents, and out of nowhere give them an addiction to learning. As the students read about Anne Frank and write letters, they should also learn a little about life. My job is to teach them about reading, writing, and living in the real world.
They are too old to be treated as children and to young to be treated as adults. Middle schoolers are unique, and deserve a unique approach to teaching. You have to make them learn without letting on that you are actually helping them. And whatever you do, do not let them know what you are doing when they are doing it. The best lessons end with, "Hey Miss, all this we did today - that is all inference isn't it?"
Some definitions of toxic I got on Google search:
Toxic substances usually cause unwanted side effects.
www.seniormag.com/conditions/cancer/cancerglossary/t.htm
a poisonous substance.
www.gla.ac.uk/seps/chemical_emergencies/090.html