To teach patience we must provide opportunities to BE patient. Kids today are so used to immediate gratification, that they struggle with waiting for anything (Ok, we all do.) Working time into our lessons forces students to work through their assignments, and by doing so learning to focus more keenly on each individual step required to reach their goals. I’ve already written about how I believe patience and respect are the keys to teaching. Here are three suggestions of how you can incorporate more time into your classroom schedule that will ultimately help teach the students how to be patient.
Teaching patience requires a patient teacher. Some people tell me that I am a patient person. I don’t feel patient. However I can say that I spend so much time around people (students) less patient than I am that it makes me appear very patient. I am blessed with a relatively long fuse, and I am continually given opportunities to practice patience; it seems like I have to wait for EVERYTHING. As we all know, practice makes perfect. So the first step is the teacher recognizing the importance of patience and being open to acting with patience in the classroom.
Teaching patience requires a patient presentation. Every classroom has a pace. For some, the pace is fast and furious, for others, the pace is slow and steady. Both are fine so long as the teacher and students are comfortable. Within the daily routine of all classes there are activities and assignments. These assignments are often complex and include a deadline. To help teach students patience, try breaking down the complex into smaller, perhaps daily doable chunks. Much like spoon feeding a baby, introduce the curriculum a little at a time. Smaller chunks of information are easier for students to digest.
Teaching patience requires a patient process. When setting deadlines for student work a set of staggered due dates can be useful to help encourage all students to turn in their assignments. Allowing for early submission helps to motivate the students who like to work more quickly without penalizing those who work more slowly. I offer additional extra credit for any student who, once their work is completed, assists another student to finish their work on time. I also allow for resubmission of work to students who meet the deadline, but may have overlooked a particular aspect of an assigned project.
Perhaps I am too patient, too liberal in my approach to teaching the pupils to be patient. I believe that high school should be a safe place to make mistakes. Therefore, it is important that the teachers, coaches, and administrators who work with students be willing to reach down and help up our kids when they stumble. In our world of “I want it all and I want it now” I feel that it is necessary that educators not only model patient behavior, but also act as the agents of patience in the lives of students. Teach them to wait.
February 22, 2009
February 13, 2009
The Importance of Being Mister?
Names are important. In the classroom I feel that it is important for students to refer to their teachers as Mr. or Mrs. So and So. I don’t feel that it is appropriate in any k12 setting for any student to use any teacher or administrators first names. There needs to be professional distance between student and teacher. It is equally important for teachers to quickly remember and regularly use the names of their students. The use of a student’s name in the classroom is a validation that recognizes that they exist, that they are unique, and they are important.
Almost no one calls me by my first name, Kevin; and even then it’s a shorter version like Kev, and sometimes Kevo. My dear mother who named me doesn’t call me Kevin because that’s not the name she picked out for me. My mother named me K.C. up until my (paternal) grandmother came to see me in the hospital and asked what my parents had named their first-born. My grandmother’s famous response was, “K.C.? Sound like the name for a dog.” So K.C. became Kevin Christian. However, most people who know me professionally, including my students, call me Bibo.
Leaving off the “Mr.” part used to bother me. But then I came to accept my namesake and go with it. Some students call me “Mr. Bibo” in class, but those are usually the newer, younger students with whom I have not yet made any sort of connection. About midway through the school year, and from that point on, the majority of high school students I teach refer to me simply as Bibo. And it’s not just them. My colleagues also refer to me as Bibo. That could have something to do with there being four other Kevins on campus.
I could be offended at this lack of formality. For me, the use of my last name alone has become endearing. Bibo is a very uncommon name after all (how many Bibos do you know?) One Bibo was actually a Governor at Acoma Pubelo in New Mexico during the late 1800’s. My sister and I recently ran into another Bibo working at a local restaurant. Just today a student shared with me that Bibos means an Asian wild ox. So as long as I feel respected by my students as the authority figure in the classroom, I don’t really mind.
So long as your students respect you as their teacher dropping the Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. can be acceptable. However, I still would not allow my students to use my first name because I feel that it crosses a line of professional distance that the kids themselves want to keep in place. Many adults will continue to refer to their childhood teachers as Mr. or Mrs. well into their adult lives. I have written under a pseudonym (Cal Teacher Blogger) for five years, but no more. From this point on it’s Mr. Bibo (but you can call me Bibo.)
Almost no one calls me by my first name, Kevin; and even then it’s a shorter version like Kev, and sometimes Kevo. My dear mother who named me doesn’t call me Kevin because that’s not the name she picked out for me. My mother named me K.C. up until my (paternal) grandmother came to see me in the hospital and asked what my parents had named their first-born. My grandmother’s famous response was, “K.C.? Sound like the name for a dog.” So K.C. became Kevin Christian. However, most people who know me professionally, including my students, call me Bibo.
Leaving off the “Mr.” part used to bother me. But then I came to accept my namesake and go with it. Some students call me “Mr. Bibo” in class, but those are usually the newer, younger students with whom I have not yet made any sort of connection. About midway through the school year, and from that point on, the majority of high school students I teach refer to me simply as Bibo. And it’s not just them. My colleagues also refer to me as Bibo. That could have something to do with there being four other Kevins on campus.
I could be offended at this lack of formality. For me, the use of my last name alone has become endearing. Bibo is a very uncommon name after all (how many Bibos do you know?) One Bibo was actually a Governor at Acoma Pubelo in New Mexico during the late 1800’s. My sister and I recently ran into another Bibo working at a local restaurant. Just today a student shared with me that Bibos means an Asian wild ox. So as long as I feel respected by my students as the authority figure in the classroom, I don’t really mind.
So long as your students respect you as their teacher dropping the Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. can be acceptable. However, I still would not allow my students to use my first name because I feel that it crosses a line of professional distance that the kids themselves want to keep in place. Many adults will continue to refer to their childhood teachers as Mr. or Mrs. well into their adult lives. I have written under a pseudonym (Cal Teacher Blogger) for five years, but no more. From this point on it’s Mr. Bibo (but you can call me Bibo.)
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