Thanks for the support, blog readers. I am now funk-free!
The reason for both my anger and my funk came from a day I was out to a meeting and needed two of my classes covered by a substitute. Afterward, comments about my classes from a colleague, a parent, a hall monitor, and various other drop-ins to my classroom made my head head explode, leaving a fine grey-red mist of anger lingering in the air for weeks. A sampling:
"They were the most disrespectful class I have ever encountered."
"They were like animals."
"Would it possible for my daughter to change classes? She can't concentrate due to the constant noise."
"Man, Mr. Rice, your class was terrible."
I'm not sure the form-'em-up-and-chew-'em-out strategy worked. I still find it difficult to keep them in check sometimes. I have had some apologies, but only from those students who weren't the trouble-makers.
1 comment:
There was a time when I was on the verge of becoming a flunky, likely much like one of those that you see as the worst you have in your classes.
I had a teacher, one of my favorite teachers pull me aside midway through my freshmen year of highschool and tell me that she "Gave up" on me because of my additude and lack of drive, that she refused to put any more effort into me because it would be better spent on someone else and that I was wasting her time, and she was tired of me dissapointing her.
I ended up getting a B in her class, my work vastly improved after that little talk... In Fact, I blame her for my finishing High School at all.
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