Waiting for Silence
March 2nd, 2008Sometimes I get frustrated because I request (ok, demand) silence two or three times before the class gets quiet.
This week I accidentally discovered I sometimes wasn’t waiting long enough. It was really strange to ask for silence, wait, wonder if it was going to work, and be astonished as the silence spread throughout the room without any need for repetition on my part.
Having waited, I am less frustrated yet still in control- even more in control because I am also mastering my own impatience.
You must be a very great teacher.
Are you trying to win me with flattery?
….said the seasoned middle school teacher whose battered ego can only interpret a compliment as manipulation.
I feel the need to try to explain to WAJ.
Wonderful Aunt Joanna, she really *is* a great teacher. All sane middle school teachers have battered egos - it’s a universal thing…it has something to do with how the kids don’t even regard us as human really….just lots of subtle things like that…and we still love our students and/or think they’re really funny….it’s so hard to explain…
Shannon? Jump in?
Actually, Aunty, when Kiki and I try to articulate our views on this subject, we inevitably break down in shrieks of maniacle laughter.
And I’m not even sure I can comment on the truth value of the battered ego statement. At this point, how would I know?
First why would I try to win you with flattery, CJ already did that. It is not a Weeks thing and what would I do with you???
Secondly battered egos is the least problem for Middle school teachers. To enter that field one had to be absolutely MAD as in TOTALLY OUT OF YOUR MIND CRAZY!!!!
Shortly after babies start walking they become people beyond understanding, self centered, manipulative, evil beings whose sole purpose is to destroy everything and everyone in their path. This process builds and perfects in middle school and then it goes slightly under the surface until maybe 30 and with any luck it flushes out of the system by then but not always.
So dear middle school folks, go on thinking you have some control some shred of sanity or ability to impact and maybe if you live long enough to see these students grow to adulthood maybe you can see if it really was worth it all. Until then laughing is about the best thing you can do!!!
Aunty, I think you might be right.
Was my crazy great-grandmother Nana ever a middle school teacher?
Nana did not need to be a teacher . She did enough damage as a wife, mother, sister, aunt and grandmother. She was much to talented to be just a teacher when she could seek and destroy anyone she came near for 80 odd years. That you are even hear is a strong testament to your grandfathers ability to overcome his mother and become a decent fairly human person.
(after the death of her husband she was a sales person in Wannamakers)