No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

I'll have to be more careful about giving advice. Sometimes people misinterpret what you say. How sad.

Teaching 101

I seem to be on this teaching thing, so here goes. Once again the conversation got around to whether or not teachers should be required to teach non-college level courses. Perhaps because I started my career at a school where we had to teach all levels, I adopted that philosophy. The theory is that if you are certified to teach, then you are certified to teach everyone--not just the kids who are motivated and bright (i.e. college-bound). It makes us better teachers if we are constantly being challenged to provide an education to a broad spectrum of the student population. On the other hand, I know people who are capable of terrible harm if they were forced to teach lower-level students. And let's be real--how difficult is it to walk into an upper-level class and teach these well-behaved, hard-working students?

I suppose that an equitable method would be for administrators to ask for volunteers to teach the more challenging classes, and then accomodate some other request--perhaps a favorite prep, or an easier duty. I'm amazed at the number of teachers who admit that they dislike (some say hate) teaching non-college level classes, and even request (or insist) that they not be assigned any. They are not aware that what they're really saying is that they are not qualified to teach.

Water, Water, Everywhere

It never bothered me before, but I'm getting so tired of seeing people with water bottles. It amazes me that companies such as Poland Spring and Fiji have convinced people that they need to hydrate themselves every five minutes during all of their waking hours. Not only is this not medically necessary, it is terribly wasteful: it takes millions of gallons of oil to produce all of those plastic bottles. Then of course there are the numerous trips to the bathroom. Prior to water companies developing these marketing ploys, no one was fainting due to dehydration. There wasn't an epidemic of people suddenly dying on the streets because they didn't have their water bottle nearby.

Standards of behavior change with time, and the ubiquitous water bottle is a good example. Employers have guidelines regarding food and beverage consumption during work hours; mine does not allow either in the classroom. It's about maintaining professionalism, and limiting distractions. This is why teachers also have standards of behavior that students are expected to follow. It isn't asking much of students to come into class without food or beverages, ready to learn. If it is, then we're in trouble.