I DON'T SIT AT MY DESK
In my early years as an educator, I was always told that a good teacher does not teach from her desk. I agree. It’s impossible to truly engage with your students if you are sitting behind the barrier of your desk. It’s sets a negative tone and gives the impression that you are only there because it’s your job and not because you want to build relationships. Also, due to the demographic of students that I teach, sitting behind a desk would make it quite difficult to put out the fires that are sure to arise with all of the colorful personalities that fill the seats.
Again, I don’t sit at my desk too often. Since the computer is across the room from the teacher’s desk, I spend most of my time there when I’m not teaching. I don’t even grade papers at my desk. I tend to sit in a student desk to do that. I don’t know what keeps me from sitting there, but for me the teacher’s desk isn’t where I sit to be the most productive during my down time.
With that said, I allow students to sit there. For some groups the same student sits there during every class, for others it’s a matter of first come first serve, but in a respectful manner. I allow students to sit there because I know that they will be more focused on their work because they are slightly separated (but not really, because the student desks backs directly onto the teacher desk so that they could literally lay on it if they wanted to) from their peers. I encourage this because it demonstrates their independence and desire to be productive. A lot of times what happens is the other students will gather around the teacher desk to work as a small study group with the one student who sat there and grasped the concept quicker.
On occasion, a student may want to sit there because they don’t feel well and want to put their head down. I will allow that too. At my school the students hate going to the nurse because her answer for everything is to give them an ice pack, so they feel like it’s less trouble to just put their head down since their parents are at work and can’t pick them up from school.
With all of that said, on one occasion I did sit at my desk to work because I was reviewing student work folders and needed a larger space to spread out. After working for about twenty minutes, I just so happened to look up and saw a row of post-it notes stuck to my file drawer. I was initially annoyed because I thought that a student was wasting my supplies, but then I took a minute to read what was written on them. It was a note of appreciation.
Again, I don’t sit at my desk too often. Since the computer is across the room from the teacher’s desk, I spend most of my time there when I’m not teaching. I don’t even grade papers at my desk. I tend to sit in a student desk to do that. I don’t know what keeps me from sitting there, but for me the teacher’s desk isn’t where I sit to be the most productive during my down time.
With that said, I allow students to sit there. For some groups the same student sits there during every class, for others it’s a matter of first come first serve, but in a respectful manner. I allow students to sit there because I know that they will be more focused on their work because they are slightly separated (but not really, because the student desks backs directly onto the teacher desk so that they could literally lay on it if they wanted to) from their peers. I encourage this because it demonstrates their independence and desire to be productive. A lot of times what happens is the other students will gather around the teacher desk to work as a small study group with the one student who sat there and grasped the concept quicker.
On occasion, a student may want to sit there because they don’t feel well and want to put their head down. I will allow that too. At my school the students hate going to the nurse because her answer for everything is to give them an ice pack, so they feel like it’s less trouble to just put their head down since their parents are at work and can’t pick them up from school.
With all of that said, on one occasion I did sit at my desk to work because I was reviewing student work folders and needed a larger space to spread out. After working for about twenty minutes, I just so happened to look up and saw a row of post-it notes stuck to my file drawer. I was initially annoyed because I thought that a student was wasting my supplies, but then I took a minute to read what was written on them. It was a note of appreciation.
The note brought a smile to my face and a tear to my eye. I have had a very challenging year and have felt like the students don’t care about their education or the effort that is put into giving them a good education. Many of their teachers don’t see positive futures for them because of the poor choices that they make or have made in high school. However, I try to encourage them daily, even after they drive me crazy. I do this because I understand that their home lives and neighborhoods are the source of their stress and explosive behavior. Many of these kids feel hopeless and stuck. I try to use my class to motivate them and provide examples of success. This note confirmed that I did reach someone. It may only be one, but that means everything to me.
As teachers, we impact the lives of developing minds, personalities, moral compasses, and career choices everyday. Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, we help shape the future.
Comments
Post a Comment