Wednesday, June 23, 2010

A visit to Pity City

Kristin Gilger, Associate Dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, leads students in a discussion about issues that they might face with administration and how to best deal with difficult situations.


"You can visit Pity City, but you can't live there."

This quote from Kristin Gilger was funny and very true. She said it right before Reynolds fellows were given five minutes to vent about administration concerns they have.

I intend to use this technique in my classroom. There are times when students just need to vent or even talk about what happened over the weekend. I don't believe in name-calling, but students need to have a safe place to talk about their frustrations so they can get past the anger and move on to more constructive conversations.

In the past I have used this sort of technique when getting back from a break such as Spring Break. Students are excited to talk about their adventures so I give them five minutes while I take care of attendance to talk about it, but when the five minutes is up, business must go on.

Kim Isbell
Humboldt High School
Humboldt, Kan.

3 comments:

  1. Kim-

    "I pity the fool!"

    Sorry, I had to say that:) I love that phrase she used and I also plan to use it!

    Alyssa Carnley
    Harrison HS
    Kennesaw,GA

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  2. When I come across dissension this method works for them to get it off their chest, but then move on.
    The whole conflict management is necessary part of the job, however, I disdain it.

    Ryan Ludwig
    Spanish Springs H.S.
    Sparks/Reno Nev.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm sure you already know that the phrase came from the original A-Team's Mr. T. I wasn't crazy about the TV show but that phrase sure caught on!

    ReplyDelete