At the end of 3rd period, I got a call to go and cover a 4th period on my prep. The class was on the other side of campus. It was a brisk walk, but I got to class on time. Then it was a brisk walk back so that I could get back to the class I was called to cover.
I was about halfway back to class when a student stopped me. She asked me if I had covered her class on Friday. Yes, I had.
Then the student asked me if I had been upset with the behavior of her 3rd period class. Something I wrote in the note to her teacher indicated this, and the class was made to write standards. The girl wanted to make sure that it was 3rd period that was the problem and not 4th.
I was running late, now. I wanted to get back to the class I was supposed to cover before the bell. (Although, I wouldn't get into trouble if I was a bit late. It's the principle of the thing.) I told the girl I didn't remember, and I got back on my way.
It wasn't a lie. I didn't remember. I try not to hold on to too much anger about any particular day. Unless something memorable happened, I might not recall things like how a class behaved generally. But once I had some time to think, I sort of recalled the class.
I rank the classes from best to worst every day. 3rd period was the worst. Of that day. Were they terrible? No. But I seem to recall that several of them didn't get very much done, and it wasn't a hard assignment. In comparison, 4th period took the assignment more seriously.
It's too bad the girl didn't catch me at a time when I could have stopped to talk. I suppose I should be able to recall these things more readily. Ah well.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
7 comments:
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It's none of her business. The communication that goes on between the administration and the faculty should not be discussed with a student.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't remember, nothing big happened I guess. She was probably just miffed they got in trouble for not doing their work or something.
ReplyDeleteI'd say that you've got a lot more things to be thinking about than that kind of thing. Often once something has been recorded on paper, it leaves our minds 'cause we no longer have to retain it. ;)
ReplyDeleteIt would bother me less if I had had three or four intervening subbing assignments. Then I could claim a full memory. As it was, all that separated those two days was a weekend. A busy weekend, but still...
DeleteI'm sure she knew what she did and didn't do, so I wouldn't think too much about it. I know what you mean about the worst of the day doesn't mean too bad in comparison to other days.
ReplyDeleteThat was sort of a reverse pop quiz. Nicely handled -- I like your attitude about letting the negative go.
ReplyDeleteAs for Michael? Of course students can ask if it was their class that was considered bad; communications about the student should be made known to the student. That's like saying a supervisor could talk about you at work with your boss and you shouldn't be allowed to know what was said.
While privacy and confidentiality are sometimes important, when the identity of the reporter and recipient are known, even those concerns fall by the wayside.
I knew a teacher who would read the sub note to her class upon her return. She used it as an exercise in honesty and how students should behave on her absence. Her classes were generally pretty good.
DeleteFrom time to time I hear back about how classes got punished due to the note I left. Upon further questioning, the students admit that they deserved what they got. On the other hand, some classes tell me they got rewards for behaving well.