So I'm a teacher. I'm a teacher who loves finding the humor in teaching. Overall, it's humorous to me because I grew up not really loving education. In fact, I spent most of my high school days really, really hating education. Ironically as ironic can be, I find myself back at my own high school where my colleagues are my former teachers.
I actively remind them that I am sorry for my behavior.
My former scholarly disobedience and hatred of all things academia has, though, let me see from both sides of the coin. I feel like while I constantly feel a twinge of guilt about this, I can use this to help motivate students who normally would pull a "me" and just pull away. I am brutally honest sometimes with them, telling them that sometimes knowing exactly what happens in Hamlet isn't that important, but learning ways to translate seemingly impossible text is a skill that can translate into future success in a field of their choice. It's funny for them to hear a teacher speak like that, but I think to them...it makes sense. Because it does to me.
A little more specifically, being a teacher is humorous on daily level. My bff teaching buddy who lives several hours away shares early morning texts with me, often with multiple cuss words or complaints about how dark it is at 5 a.m. If we weren't able to laugh at these little annoyances, we would probably be on the road to becoming those old, bitter, ditto-packet from 1990 teachers sooner rather than later. While some people might challenge me and say that cyncism and sarcasm are not qualities of a good teacher, I think that having a realistic view and not being the Miss Squirrel ("Bad Teacher" antagonist: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ1QWLPLBGc) is more of who I am. (please don't mistake this reference to me thinking I am the bad teacher from the movie--hahaha!) Anyway, for me, the humor standpoint works. I think...well, it's worked for four years I guess. We'll see. Stand by.
This blog is going to be a dedication to all things humorous in the world of teaching. I usually try to come up with one thing by the end of each day to tell a friend or family member in an anecdotal fashion, so I figured a blog was a good forum for a broader audience to see the enjoyment I have each day. So, then...enjoy!
Sometimes you have to laugh if you don't want to cry! I look forward to reading your blog this semester! :)
ReplyDeleteI love this idea! Teaching is hysterical -- sometimes because it actually is and sometimes because it has to be or you'd go crazy. In my faculty room we always talk about how we should write a book about all the crazy things that happen each and every day in a school. I'm looking forward to reading this (and comparing notes)!
ReplyDeleteIn all my years of teaching blogging, I have never had a student take this approach. I think it's a wonderful idea as it's truly reflective of your apporach to teaching! Like J said...."sometimes you have to laugh if you don't want to cry". I'm glad that you reflect on your own years as a student because that makes you appreciate learning so much more now, and you can pass that desire on to your students. I know this, because I was not a very good student either, and as I grew older, I wanted to kick myself for not soaking up all the knowledge I could. Now I really encourage my students to learn.
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