It has often been joked that one is punished for their sins through the identical sins of their children. I have no children of my own, and so I should be safe, right? That is what I thought too, but I am beginning to realize, painfullly, that my past sins can be revisited in those of my students; those past indiscretions, rebellions, and apathy's are rearing their ugly heads each and every day.
For those of you who have only recently met me, those whom I have known for only the last 3 or 4 years, you might not be privy the Michael of old. Though I now take great pride in my education and the ideals set forth by great thinkers throughout history, I was once one who stood in utter opposition against these very things. I acted up in class, I never read the assigned books, and I generally mocked those who acted in accordance with the teacher's wishes. I now am faced daily with a room full of students who seem to both hate my classes and the teacher standing (or sitting, as is generally the case) at the front of the room. I literally, no exagerration, have put at least one student to sleep each day that I have been at STA.
Here's the probem, I could not be more excited about what I am teaching. Even the history classes, which are by no means my forte, are exciting and valuable to me, but despite my efforts to give an apologetic for our studies this first week, they could not be less interested, ranging from boredom to defiance in their words and deeds.
I can only laugh, because it is like looking into a mirror, a mirror into my past. They are brazen, uneducated and proud, illiterate, and they have no inclination to be any different than that which they are. My prayer is that I will be able to inspire even a handful to something great, that they might taste that which took me so many years to acquire a taste for. I do not expect overnight success, and I know that the majority will skate-by, doing the bare minimum, but my hope is that some will catch the same "fire" that caught me several years ago.
At the very least, they give me great fodder for blogging and coversation.
For instance, I have one kid, adequately named Michael, who turned in his first assignment of a book report over the summer reading. I told them I expected no more than a summary of what they read, void of any analysis or thought, and he almost immediately handed in a typed, 4 page report that he did in anticipation of just such an assignment. I was suspicious to say the least. One quick Google search later, he ripped it completely off the internet; he did not even remove the underlined hyperlinks from the text. I will have to talk with him tomorrow, but most of me just wants to laugh right now. How stupid does he think I am? He can hardly string together a coherent sentence in conversation, and he is going to try and pass of an articulate summary of a book, a summary replete with words that he more than likely cannot pronounce? Not a good start for this individual. if you are going to cheat, I say, do it with a modicum of cunning.
For those of you who have only recently met me, those whom I have known for only the last 3 or 4 years, you might not be privy the Michael of old. Though I now take great pride in my education and the ideals set forth by great thinkers throughout history, I was once one who stood in utter opposition against these very things. I acted up in class, I never read the assigned books, and I generally mocked those who acted in accordance with the teacher's wishes. I now am faced daily with a room full of students who seem to both hate my classes and the teacher standing (or sitting, as is generally the case) at the front of the room. I literally, no exagerration, have put at least one student to sleep each day that I have been at STA.
Here's the probem, I could not be more excited about what I am teaching. Even the history classes, which are by no means my forte, are exciting and valuable to me, but despite my efforts to give an apologetic for our studies this first week, they could not be less interested, ranging from boredom to defiance in their words and deeds.
I can only laugh, because it is like looking into a mirror, a mirror into my past. They are brazen, uneducated and proud, illiterate, and they have no inclination to be any different than that which they are. My prayer is that I will be able to inspire even a handful to something great, that they might taste that which took me so many years to acquire a taste for. I do not expect overnight success, and I know that the majority will skate-by, doing the bare minimum, but my hope is that some will catch the same "fire" that caught me several years ago.
At the very least, they give me great fodder for blogging and coversation.
For instance, I have one kid, adequately named Michael, who turned in his first assignment of a book report over the summer reading. I told them I expected no more than a summary of what they read, void of any analysis or thought, and he almost immediately handed in a typed, 4 page report that he did in anticipation of just such an assignment. I was suspicious to say the least. One quick Google search later, he ripped it completely off the internet; he did not even remove the underlined hyperlinks from the text. I will have to talk with him tomorrow, but most of me just wants to laugh right now. How stupid does he think I am? He can hardly string together a coherent sentence in conversation, and he is going to try and pass of an articulate summary of a book, a summary replete with words that he more than likely cannot pronounce? Not a good start for this individual. if you are going to cheat, I say, do it with a modicum of cunning.
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