Over lunch this week, some fellow teachers and I were talking about the U.S. teacher who kept a blog that ranted about her students. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone has a right to vent. And I do think many students are disengaged and lazy - though I wouldn't stab them behind their backs. I just finished parent-teacher interviews last night, and I've got to say the one thing parents and I seemed to repeat over and over again is: "____child's name_____ is a very bright student, but is choosing to be lazy because they know they can get by with the bare minimum".
I'm pretty upfront about the whole attitude thing.
But, in spite of the laziness and the whining, over my few years of teaching, I've noticed the following: the more creative and engaged I am in what I'm teaching, the more engaged my students are. And when they're engaged, they aren't whining or lazy.
I know, you're shocked by the correlation. You get back what you put out there.
It's always easiest to judge what others do. As teachers, we're quick to blame the students for being bored, we're quick to blame parents for not controlling them, and we're quick to blame each other for not teaching like we teach.
It's easy to judge.
It's not easy to be self-reflective, as Ms. Monroe seems to have proven in spades.
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