FoxTrot Classics by Bill Amend for March 08, 2011

The only problem is that it usually takes 2-3 weeks to build the reputation that you DO know all the answers. Beginning of the year, be ready to answer. Correctly.

For som unknown reason, after the teacher learned my smart mouth, She never called on me.

When I was subbing, I would say, “Yes, Miss Granger,” to these students until they got the message. After all. nobody wants to be compared to “an insufferable know-it-all,” as Snape put it.

What I’ve seen lately is a little different: They phrase the question without asking “Who can explain?” or “Does anyone know?”

Then after they have let the students know what information they want, they call on someone. Nobody raises hands, and nobody knows who he/she is going to call on. Puts all the kids on alert that they better be prepared.

That trick never worked for me. The teacher would always call on me because she was sure I didn’t know the answer. Oh, the humanity!

Having been that hand-raising kid 40 years ago, I know why the teacher was hesitant to call on me. If she let me set the pace of her class, we’d be done really fast, but only I would come out of there having gotten the point of the lecture.

It was a conundrum I came to be pretty good at manipulating, but didn’t help my study skills.

i managed to figure out the right pacing for eye contact. a lot of teachers say they purposely look for the kids who are avoiding eye contact, but on the other hand, they’ll still call on the ones make eye contact more often than not. the answer? make eye contact, but not for too long.

^^ It is a good point olmail that good teachers learn each students characteristics quickly. Some kids, like myself, only learn if we participate in class… and often times needed to be forced. Others are shunned from desiring to learn by being forced to participate and oft times did better when left to their own devices.

The reality is that testing your students early on is one of the greatest measures of learning abilities that I have found. Most of the beginning of the year work is really just review of what should have been learned the previous year anyway. This way one can measure the retention levels as well as see whose picking up the few new bits from just normal study.

After figuring out who’s on top of their game and who’s not, then comes the advantage of class participation and how they react when forced to participate. It should only take once or twice to measure the reaction of the student called on and how other around him/her react/treat that student passed upon the answer/or lack there of.

The reality is the student that isn’t paying attention is the one who generally needs to pay attention the most and needs direct involvement. Confidence is created when one actually knows the answers. Knowing the answers requires paying attention, studying, etc. It is a circle/cycle. Being able to find what kids need direct assistance early to build that confidence can save that child’s entire year and/or education (not artificial self-esteem). The later in the child’s educational life the more difficult this becomes and detrimental if not corrected.

I will admit, though. The larger the classes the harder it is. And the more time goes on the worse the students get, especially regarding their character. Sadly, most of these issues directly translate to the parents. Typically parents who could care less have kids who could care less. Parents who are rude or snobbish have children of the same ilk.

There is only so much any teacher can do no matter how much they want to help and how good they are. If the kids don’t care AND the parents don’t care then the kid is virtually screwed… unless he/she lucks out with the right crop of friends.

Nabuquduriuzhur - I think that teachers call on those who don’t raise their hands as a warning to them and all others that, whether or not they raise their hands, they better be paying attention and know the answers.

I’m waiting for Nabuquduriuzhur to go off on another one of his pointless rants about how the entire state of Oregon, but particularly educators, are a bunch of drug besotted throwbacks to the ’60s.