Tuesday, March 16, 2004
A compliment and a comparison
Part 1: One of the kids in my homeroom attempted to sit in on my last period class today. Unfortunately he did so to avoid going to his math class. In an attempt to understand his reasoning, I asked him what they were learning.
"Nothing." he said.
"C'mon," I replied. "That's not true. You always learn something in math! Even if it doesn't seem that way..."
"Nope. She don't teach nothing."
"You know," I said. "Some people say the same thing about me."
"That's not true," one of my students replied. "Even if its boring at least you teach something in here..."
It was the closest thing to a compliment I had heard in a long time. The credibility of its source was slightly undermined when he fell asleep for the majority of the period and had to be woken up five minutes after dismissal.
2. One of my closets friends at Underwood is the school psychologist, Dr. Piaget. Given the stresses of first year teaching, the appeal of having a psychologist as a friend is understandable. But I consider myself particularly fortunate (some might say uncannily so) to be placed at the same school as Dr. P., who in addition to being a highly qualified behavioral psychologist is also a close family friend who has known me since I was in utero. (Believe it...or not!) In any case, Dr. P's son lives in Tel Aviv, a city which has been in the news lately and not for the most positive of reasons. Apparently a few hours after the last terrorist bombing, the son called home to let his folks know he was ok. When Dr. P. expressed some concern he quipped that "where I am right now is safer than where you are, so don't worry!"
Cold comfort, if you ask me...
Part 1: One of the kids in my homeroom attempted to sit in on my last period class today. Unfortunately he did so to avoid going to his math class. In an attempt to understand his reasoning, I asked him what they were learning.
"Nothing." he said.
"C'mon," I replied. "That's not true. You always learn something in math! Even if it doesn't seem that way..."
"Nope. She don't teach nothing."
"You know," I said. "Some people say the same thing about me."
"That's not true," one of my students replied. "Even if its boring at least you teach something in here..."
It was the closest thing to a compliment I had heard in a long time. The credibility of its source was slightly undermined when he fell asleep for the majority of the period and had to be woken up five minutes after dismissal.
2. One of my closets friends at Underwood is the school psychologist, Dr. Piaget. Given the stresses of first year teaching, the appeal of having a psychologist as a friend is understandable. But I consider myself particularly fortunate (some might say uncannily so) to be placed at the same school as Dr. P., who in addition to being a highly qualified behavioral psychologist is also a close family friend who has known me since I was in utero. (Believe it...or not!) In any case, Dr. P's son lives in Tel Aviv, a city which has been in the news lately and not for the most positive of reasons. Apparently a few hours after the last terrorist bombing, the son called home to let his folks know he was ok. When Dr. P. expressed some concern he quipped that "where I am right now is safer than where you are, so don't worry!"
Cold comfort, if you ask me...
