As I looked over the list of idea squelchers in our text book, I was both convicted by the number of these I have given to my students in just my student teaching and one year of teaching experiences AND the number of these I have heard already in my young teaching career. I am now MUCH more conscious of what I say! I try to give my students the time and space they need to be creative and productive citizens. Since reading this, though, I have come up with a few more that I have either heard as a student or as a young teacher. I am also ashamed to report that some of these have escaped from my mouth...
- Not right now. (in other words, NO, but I don't want to have to deal with this right now, so please leave me alone).
- Let's let someone else do that. (not my problem)
- Why would we do that? (your idea is really dumb)
- You don't understand how things work around here. (I know more than you do, and your suggestion is idiotic)
- When do you suggest we do that? (we don't have time for your silly idea)
- We just do not have time for that. (but even if we had a thousand years, we STILL wouldn't consider it)
If you do not feel two inches tall after one of those comments has been said to you, you have a thicker skin than I do! We should never be responsible for making our children or coworkers feel this way! Instead we should provide positive BUT MEANINGFUL and TRUE feedback to our students. If time is really an issue, explain this to them so that they know their ideas are valued.
Whew...those are tough to read. And I'll admit that I've said them myself in a classroom without the intention of squelching. A great look into practices that are often difficult to discuss. Good for you for recognizing the need to carefully consider how we as teachers respond to students.
ReplyDelete