They just keep getting worse and worse!
Have you ever heard a teacher say that? If so, run in the other direction! A teacher who has resigned himself or herself to seeing the students as getting worse and worse just hasn’t realized that the only thing getting worse and worse is that teacher.
My experience has been that it only takes one or two students to jade how you look at your entire year. But for the most part, the students all want to succeed. The vast majority of students want to do well. It then becomes a matter of motivating the class to do what you want them to do and minimizing the negative impact of those very few students who simply won’t buy-in to your class.
The teacher who let’s their perspective be perpetually focused on those few negative students misses so much of what makes teaching great- those precious students who really are inspired by what you’re doing in the classroom, those students who look forward to a kind word from you all day, those students who take the time to write you a nice note telling you how much you’ve meant to him or her.
Wouldn’t you rather have your perspective of your students crafted by those positive moments instead of dwelling on those few negative students? Wouldn’t you rather enjoy your teaching job instead of dreading getting up in the morning?
Each year it seems my students are getting better and better. Could that be possible? I hope so, because that means next year is going to be awesome!
Darren B.