But Teachers DO Take It Personally – A Refreshingly Different Take

Gil Epshtein’s photos

It’s the standard thing you encounter in every teacher training  course or teaching manual (and a quick Google search):

“When students (particularly teenagers!) get angry and hurl insults at the teacher, DON’T TAKE IT PERSONALLY, it’s not about YOU. The students are bringing in things from outside the classroom, issues related to their home life, their relationship (or lack of) with their peers, their academic struggles and much more. So taking it personally is a huge mistake. The insults roughly fall into two main categories – insults regarding the teacher’s appearance or insults regarding the teacher’s professional abilities.

Supposedly only an inexperienced teacher (or an unprofessional one) gets insulted. This is the cause of  all the teacher’s troubles, and what is obstructing a calm and cool response.

At an in-service teacher’s training session I attended at school today, the instructor took a refreshingly different approach, one that rings true and makes more sense to me.

Gil Epshtein’s photos

In a nutshell, the instructor explained that feeling insulted is an automatic and instinctive human reaction, a survival strategy which indicates the person must protect himself /herself.

Therefore, it is utter nonsense to tell a teacher not to take insults personally. We’re human beings, that’s what makes us caring teachers. Students crave empathy, to be really and truly seen, that requires emotions.

Actually, the instructor claimed, teachers who can respond appropriately and in a constructive manner to a student’s outburst are those that RECOGNIZE their feelings and have given thought to how he/she reacts to such feelings and what works to enable them to regain their equilibrium. Teacher’s aren’t robots! I believe Palmer discussed this in “The Courage to Teach” but I read that a long time ago and don’t encounter such an attitude in my reality.

Interestingly, the instructor noted that research has shown that what really gets under most teachers’ skin are insults relating to how good they are at their profession and not barbs targeted at personal appearance…

I would add that what hurts more than anything a student  could say is when a staff member whom you turn to for support and understanding replies:

“You took that personally? What?! You should know better by now”!

Note: I recommend checking out this very practical post, on a different angle: “Controlling the Power of Words: Teaching Students How to Confront Insults” by Dr. Richard Curwin

 

 

Saturday’s Book: “The Dinner” by Herman Koch

A long evening
(Naomi’s Photos)

Wow, what a skillful writer who can really pack a punch!

The author is “only” describing two couples (two brothers and their wives) spending an evening out in a fancy restaurant, but a whole lifetime and a tense plot pops up cleverly between the minuscule food portions such upscale restaurants have a reputation of serving.

Believe me, it’s best not to know more in advance. Let the author present the story in his way.

Interesting side note the author makes in the book – what do people the world over really read about Holland and famous Dutch people? There are the famous painters and there was Anna Frank (and some other heroic stories I might add). Don’t forget “Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates” ! But I really can’t recall reading anything else that takes place in the Netherlands.

The only thing I resent is one of the comments on the front cover of the book. It IS a thought-provoking book but I most certainly do not identify in any way with the characters.

 

MOST of what teenagers post on INSTAGRAM is…

Hello! You weren’t here before! (Naomi’s photos)

Sometimes things turn up just when you need them. I always like to practice a point that needs highlighting by using something thought-provoking or generally informative.

A few days ago I read a very inspiring lesson plan called “Image challenge – how to teach critical thinking through INSTAGRAM” on Magdalena Wasilewska’s blog. I really recommend checking it out!

Hmm…

My lovely colleague pointed out yesterday that some of our Deaf and hard of hearing students  may have a problem in the upcoming exam with the word “most” since we’ve been reviewing superlatives for the last few weeks. In their reading passage, the word is used when describing the results of a survey, as in “Most of the young people said that…”.

Hmmmmmmm….

Thinking…
(Naomi’s Photos)

Aha!

The topic of teenagers who post pictures of themselves in an alternative reality, works beautifully for my purposes.

I chose a different video than the one Magda used as I thought it was less suitable for my class, especially as the characters clearly seem to be talking. What they are saying doesn’t matter, but with my students I prefer videos where it is clear that you don’t need to hear the audio.

Today I started using the following worksheet in class. All sentences include the word “most” but are related to the video.

Here is the worksheet.

most and instagram

Here is the video.

I hope it works well for you too!

 

 

 

 

Saturday’s Book: “The Reader on the 6.27” by Didierlaurent

Some are different…
(Naomi’s Photos)

As the cover states, it’s a charming book.

It really is. Charming is the apt description. There’s even a different take on “Prince Charming”!

It’s sweet (and short!) and makes you feel like saying “aw, nice!”.  It has some unusual (quirky, perhaps? ) ways to express a theme that I, of course, believe in – reading books and writing tales (AND reading aloud!!!!)  are really good for you, in many ways.

I wonder if the author was influenced by “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” as there is the same theme of people doing menial jobs that are almost invisible to society, yet who have a rich literary world going on in private.

In short, not raving about the book but I’m glad I read it.