One of our projects in my Children’s Literature class was to write a report on six different children’s picture books. Not really a hard assignment as far as I can tell, but an important one as it helps to build our ability to present literature to our students and help us to talk intelligently about the books, using literary terms. It’s a rudimentary class designed for teachers, so I tend to get a bit bored, but I enjoyed this project immensely.
The instructor set aside two days for us to present one of the books to the class. We were to talk more in-depth about the book, the illustrations, the plot, the characters, the use of language and the intended age of the audience, among other things.
Monday most of the class had gone. Today, Wednesday, one of the students who presented on Monday sat in his chair and read a novel while the other students presented. The instructor was on the other side of the room and I think the student was using me to eclipse him from her.
I just wanted to smack the living crap right out of him. Now I understand being bored in a class, but this is a class for future teachers. Everyone in there is supposed to want to teach. It’s supposed to be our field of interest. He wants to be a coach, and maybe that explains it, but it seems to me that he’s playing into our negative stereotype of coaches. A coach can be an intelligent and effective teacher. Now I will say that not one single coach in my high school was a good teacher. Not one. Most of them told us to read the text while they wrote down plays in their playbook. Yet I know that can’t be the norm, and it angers me when folks play into those stereotypes.
Not only should he be engaged, but he should at least be respectful enough to listen, or pretend to listen, to the other student presenters. We all respected him when he presented. Stupid Jackass needs a kick in the head. Where is Chuck Norris when you need him?
The instructor set aside two days for us to present one of the books to the class. We were to talk more in-depth about the book, the illustrations, the plot, the characters, the use of language and the intended age of the audience, among other things.
Monday most of the class had gone. Today, Wednesday, one of the students who presented on Monday sat in his chair and read a novel while the other students presented. The instructor was on the other side of the room and I think the student was using me to eclipse him from her.
I just wanted to smack the living crap right out of him. Now I understand being bored in a class, but this is a class for future teachers. Everyone in there is supposed to want to teach. It’s supposed to be our field of interest. He wants to be a coach, and maybe that explains it, but it seems to me that he’s playing into our negative stereotype of coaches. A coach can be an intelligent and effective teacher. Now I will say that not one single coach in my high school was a good teacher. Not one. Most of them told us to read the text while they wrote down plays in their playbook. Yet I know that can’t be the norm, and it angers me when folks play into those stereotypes.
Not only should he be engaged, but he should at least be respectful enough to listen, or pretend to listen, to the other student presenters. We all respected him when he presented. Stupid Jackass needs a kick in the head. Where is Chuck Norris when you need him?
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1 comment:
There are good teachers who are also coaches out there but they are few and far between. The norm seems to be coaches who have to teach rather than teachers who happen to coach. Love the Chuck Norris reference. LOL.
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