Wearing Your Heart Upon Your Sleeve

» biogardener - I have been on all sides of the desk.

I have been on all sides of the desk. I was a teacher all my life. After finishing a graduate degree, I substituted for the better part of a year, while waiting for the right position to open. I loved subbing.

I agree that honesty is the absolute requirement between learners and teachers no matter what. Let me give you an example" I subbed in one of the toughest schools of this city one day, when I was scheduled for two Ukrainian classes, one in the morning, one in the afternoon, both with the same class.

I know several languages, but unfortunately Ukrainian isn't one of them. That's what I told the students. I also asked them to teach me. They did. By the second class, I knew enough Ukrainian to be able to give them their spelling test and to mark it. I can assure you that I had no discipline problems with that class.

Now here is a contrasting picture: A few years ago, I took the regular highschool woodworking courses along with the teenage students. We once had a substitute teacher who sat in the classroom like a buddha, never helping anyone. We all hated him, in fact we told the principal about it, something which is quite rare.

Two years later, I found out that the substitute knew nothing about woodworking. Now why didn't he tell us that? We could have taught him enough for him to feel comfortable in the classroom. That would have endeared him to us and we would certainly not have complained to the principal.

I am sure you know that principals take complaints against teachers just as seriously as complaints against students. Both can be avoided with an approach of honesty.

-- posted by biogardener

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