Brave New World

To my students, I’m foreign. I’m insane. I just don’t make any sense. Never before have my students experienced a teacher that is there to help them learn, that is there to make sure they understand. Perhaps never is hyperbole, but it most certainly is not the norm. I teach in a way that is completely different from any manner their other teachers use. That is not hyperbole.

When I teach, I expect interaction. I ask them questions during class; I encourage them to ask questions. If somebody does have a question, I do my best to answer it, no matter how vague the student is. I expect that they actually learn the material, rather than simply reading straight out of their notebooks. I expect them not to cheat on exams. And most importantly, I’m trying to teach them take a chance, to try to actually understand, rather than simply get by.

And there is rejection on both sides. I can’t stand the atmosphere that greets me in the classroom: It crushes me to see these kids throw away the opportunities I give them to try and to make mistakes without any consequences. It hurts me to see them revert to the comfortable familiarity of just writing down the notes, not learning, and cheating their way into a passing grade. Clearly this is not all of my students. But I have resistance from all of my students. Even my best students choose the note reading technique when I review. Even my best students use notes for activities when I explicitly tell them not to. I’m trying to introduce them to a whole new idea of what school means. Perhaps I’ll make an impact on a handful of students, and those few will choose learning over appeasement of teachers. Perhaps those few will find that by choosing to learn they actually do better, and those tests they used to cheat on to get by become the tests they suddenly understand. Perhaps it will isolate them from the norm, but perhaps they’ll find a life outside of the crowd is more interesting. Perhaps I’m trying to change a machine much larger than me. Only time will tell what world prevails. Maybe together we can make a new one.