So this semester has been pretty good in the placement. I really love my kids. They're all such bright individuals, and they've just started saying hi to me in the halls, which I think is a big deal, because before they were just ignoring me and hoping I wouldn't say hi to them. I even have one student who will stop and talk to me. I am such a dork. :-P But I also think that this is because I try really hard to relate to the kids on a professional-personal level. I'm their friend and teacher, but not their buddy or wanna-be buddy or authoritarian. There is a group of friends in one of my hours who has shifted from trying to be my buddies to trying not to draw attention to themselves when they do something obnoxious or wrong (they never succeed). This is because, before, they thought that they could get away with things because of my friendly demeanor with the students, but now I have also established myself as an authority figure, and I don't put up with their disruptive behavior. They don't like this, but the rest of the class respects me more than before, so tough cookies for them.
I also think that my teaching has strengthened through the advice of my mentor and field instructor. Simple things, like not losing the volume of my voice when I'm unsure, keep me looking confident and let the students trust my knowledge more. I also try to relate more to pop culture when it's possible in my examples. I like to loosen up the mood of the classroom and let students be themselves there.
I did recently find that many of my students plagiarize and then pretend not to know that they did it (even when copying and pasting from wikipedia). I was really disappointed to find that they would go to such great lengths to save their own grades, but not to do the actual work and learn and keep some semblance of integrity. This is not the first problem I've had with cheating in this class, and when I have more control over their grades, they will be very sorry to cheat. I'm going to make it clear the first day of my unit that if I catch anyone plagiarizing or copying, it will result in an immediate zero, no matter the assignment. (Maybe I'll secretly plan to let them off the hook with a second chance later, but they shouldn't know it's an option when they're doing their original work.) I let them know that plagiarism is illegal and will get them kicked out of college completely, but they still seem to be struggling to step up and do their own work.
More later, class just ended!
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Good for you, Brittany, for your resolve on the matter of plagiarism. I see this as a great opportunity to make some important points. Not to minimize the point that it's wrong to take someone else's ideas and present them as your own, but I'm really worried about a kind of mirror image of this. Kids need to feel that their ideas are worth developing and articulating, and they need our help finding the intellectual tools that people interested in ideas (like you, for example) use to form their ideas and to evaluate the ideas of others, etc. It may seem trite, but I really think that kids need to believe that they have something to say, and that important adults in their life..that would be you again ;-), for example...want to hear those ideas.
ReplyDeleteIn short, Brittany, I think you're on to something important and I hope you'll write more about this as your student teaching moves along.
Good point, Jeff. I will make sure I try to emphasize that I really value their thoughts and their insights, and I'd rather read that than something I can find on wikipedia. Thanks, Jeff!
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