Welcome new year!
So instead of waiting for lesson inspiration to strike, I thought it'd be better to just let inspiration strike where it may. This mainly means more of my meandering thoughts on teaching. Lucky you!
Today I was thinking of the double edged sword. I have a student; a boy who, despite his often sweet thoughts and good intentions, finds himself on the wrong end of a bad decision pretty much daily. Most of the time these decisions lead to fights with other students. During one of these fights yesterday this boy came to me. I'm sorry to say now that I can't even remember the complaint he made to me, so quickly did I brush it away with a stock response for minor offenses. But today it bothered me. Don't I tell this child, and others like him, everyday that if there's a problem he can't solve he should ask a teacher for help? I'd be willing to bet my collection of teaching stickers that most teachers ask this of their students on a daily basis. And yet, we then walk the thin line between a student that asks for help...and the dreaded tattletale. In fact we can become so annoyed with the tattletales in our class that we begin to dismiss children who come to us in good intent. Yesterday this boy came to me and instead of saying "Thank you, I'm glad you told me, let's work it out together." I made some wonderful contribution like "Alright, tell so and so to give it back."
How do we keep from getting here? Beyond teaching children how to handle their own conflicts, how can we encourage children to come to us for help without getting burned out? How do I continue to recognize that however small the problem seems to me, it was brought to my attention because it feels big to my student?
Thoughts? Suggestions? Personal musings? Share with me!
