do bad students make good teachers?

Hmmm. One of the things I struggle with as a teacher is giving out grades (in case you're just joining us, sports fans). And I think one of the sticking points for me is the fact that I was never a very good student. I rarely did all the work I was supposed to do. I never took work home from me, usually worked on it before school in the band room or during the class in which it was due . . . and I ended up skating through almost every class I ever took. (Until Dr. Mary Arlin and Sightsinging II kicked my ass in college, that is.)

And yet, here I am giving out the grades now. Here I am applying pressure where pressure is needed. Pushing kids that need to be pushed. Holding the standard and all that. And I'm managing to do it pretty well.

Which begs the question: Do poor students make good teachers?

And the corollary: are good teachers poor students?

Not that either one of them amounts to more than a generalization, but it is interesting to note how many "slackers" and "trouble-makers" go on to the teaching profession.

I guess one of the reasons I'm thinking about this is that we had a department meeting today. What a trip these meetings are, to see adult teachers all crammed into a room and forced to try to collaborate on something. My department chair once likened our school to a pirate ship, a tough, rugged little boat on the choppy seas, filled with mercenaries, each one of them a professional, at the top of their game, but none of them really taking joy in working with anyone else.

We have these "meeting periods" now, where we often end up with two teachers in a classroom full of kids, and the kids are allowed to use the time for a tutorial or collaboration session. My first one, I honestly didn't know what to do!!! Oh my God, there's another teacher in here. What do I do now? I guess I'll let him take charge.

That's really sad. I wonder what it would be like if we had teachers actually teaching together . . . like, as a team. Think of how many cool things we could do.

Not outside the realm of possibility, that's for sure. But one thing at a time. Let's just try to keep up with the lesson plans while I go through this move . . .

Posted: Mon - January 26, 2004 at 10:38 PM

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do bad students make good teachers?

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