At the end of January, I went to the Teachers of English in Austria (TEA) conference in Vienna - sorry for the late post! I keep getting the feeling I'm becoming worse and worse at actually updating with salient details from my European exploits!
The conference was good: sort of a rehash of education classes/teacher training lessons I feel like I've had an earful of already - but it's always good to review. The best thing about the conference was being able to reconnect with people I met in Graz (and hadn't seen since) and new people teaching all over Austria. I found talking to all of these people with such varied life and teaching experiences a wonderful thing. I think as I become more comfortable teaching in Amstetten and more aware of my impact on learners, I can implement better strategies, and to be so self-conscious. Self-conscious teachers really are the pits - the ones who try so hard to get students to like them. It's not about that. It's about learning, conveying knowledge from one person to another. If your students happen to like you, well, that's an added bonus.
I'm not saying you should be scary and nasty, just don't expect adoration, because odds are, you're never going to get it. Teaching is not about being a superstar, having a captive audience, building a pension or getting summers off. And, yeah, I'm not a "real" teacher here in Austria, but I've had exposure to the teaching profession pretty much my whole life, and I think, at least in a small way, that counts for something.
I hope this post is somewhat timely as well, for those stuck in that February doldrum somewhere. This time of year can be really tough on students and teachers and sometimes you might go home at the end of the day wanting to pull your hair out or bitch out your students or buy a one-way ticket to Tahiti and forget that this life ever happened. Those are not super options for dealing with stress, unfortunately.
This teacher in Pennsylvania is feeling the effect of job dissatisfaction - in more ways than one. Her blog, where she complained about teaching, administrators and students, was discovered and links posted on Facebook by her students this year (the contents of the blog were written between 2009 and 2010) from where it went viral, to be discovered by parents and administrators. Not the best move on her part, though I can see where she's coming from, being disappointed with students' behavior and performance. There have been days where I've felt really drained and frustrated having to deal with so many different personalities in the classroom and the lack of decorum on the part of (some) students.
But it's not going to help anyone to dwell on the negative. Calling her students "little f&@#s" on the internet - albeit on a semi-ambiguous blog (she included her first name and a photo of herself in her profile) - helps nothing and creates more animosity in the end. The students, parents and administrators become angry and feel betrayed for havign been publicly maligned. Nothing is accomplished except lots of bad karma. Since she may lose her job over this, depending on whether the teachers' union backs her grievance at dismissal/suspension with pay, I hardly see how a little name-calling was worth it, especially considering that anything and everything on the internet can be dug up by someone, and can certainly be found by students who are (let's face it) a million times more computer literate than anyone over 30.
At first, I was a bit concerned about my blog - I write about my students! Sometimes. And I know my students read what I write (because they tell me all the time at Stammtisch - HOLLA Y'ALL!) The main difference, I feel, is that I would never say mean things about my students - at least not intentionally.
With that in mind, teenagers, if I may, sometimes act like assholes because they're trying to find themselves. Who wasn't a little disagreeable at 16? My mother can tell you plenty of stories about me! If you can't deal with human foibles in a productive, understanding manner, stay the hell away from social occupations. Especially teaching, where you have the potential to affect thousands of lives over the span of a career.
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