Wednesday, June 16, 2010

In my students position

It was time for our post mortem on our on deadline Speech Story. The anticipation was heightened when they were returned to us, but we were instructed not to look until we were given a general overview by Steve Elliot. We all sat there with divided attention as one after another lead or photo was critiqued. Some teachers were touching the folded document, others were flipping them over, some pushed these efforts around the desk top.

About an over-long hour and a half, the critique ended, and the group moved on to the next presenter. There was little to time analyze and obsess about our first attempt. So we will all do the analysis after a long day in the salt mine.

JH Appel
Chaparral HS
Chaparral, NM

1 comment:

  1. I have to agree that this is a great wake-up call. How often we find ourselves in classes that are so familiar--educational theory, improved testing and grading, etc.

    How rarely did I ever find myself in a situation so unfamiliar as yesterday. When I wasn't fending off meltdown, trying to retain that last bit of information or simply remembering what to do next, I tried to jot down notes-to-self to remember to be kinder to my students.

    Instead of thinking like an art teacher, I need to think like a student with dreams of becoming a writer, who must also become a copy editor, photo editor, videographer and all-round expert on computers.

    I am gaining new respect for my kids who can do these things. They truly are wired differently and I must trust their instincts a little (or a lot) more in certain areas. I'm beginning to understand why people refer to me as the adviser, not the teacher--while I am teaching them, I'm also there to give them their rein and guide them past the hurdles and pitfalls, not so much to assign and grade.

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