Phew, I'm tired! I've been exercising this young heart of mine in the classroom...maybe too much.
Is there such a thing as too much though? Don't we all just care about our students and want them to succeed in our classes? Not according to Fish we don't, but to me we do.
I believe in the idea of Palmer's "heartwork" and I believe that for students to succeed in my class, they need to know that I care about their work ethic and that I want to see them succeed. But there comes a time when that mentality may be too smothering. For example, in the beginning of the semester, I was extremely strict about my students being on their phones. Afterall, they were watching sports, playing games, and who knows what else. I wanted them to focus and be engaged in my class so I snapped. To be exact I said, "If I see one more person on their phone, I am kicking you out of my class" in the scariest mom voice I could impersonate. They all quickly put their phones away in shock.
The ambiance in my room and the days that followed carried distance. They were not engaged, they did not care about the material. I felt like a monster. The heartwork that I was trying to possess ended up being me smothering their freedom. So I took a different approach. I told them that if they wanted to be on their phones then by all means but they were prohibited from asking me questions because they did not take the liberty to put their phones away and listen.
Guess what happened...they started to pay attention. I hardly have a phone problem now.
The moral of the story here is that maybe we shouldn't over exercise our hearts into policing our students. It is important to care about them and want them to do well but our "heartwork" should not turn into "heart overexertion". If they want to learn, they will, if they want to be there, they will be. The best that we can do is to engage with them and try to be as connected as we possibly can.
#pedamorgie #heartwork
Morgan, I love the idea you presented here. This actually is something I hadn't thought about before but now that I hear you talk about it, it rings so true for me. Your post makes me think of the activity we did in class a few weeks ago when we spoke about engagement and motivation. We can't force kids to care, it has to come from within them. However at the same time, we can do our part to ensure that we create an environment and relationships that make kids want to engage. Absolutely, #heartwork is important but "heart overexertion" is definitely no good! I think it's important to remember when to draw the line and stop trying to force kids into caring. Finally, as much as it sucks we will always have students who just really don't care. In these situations, it's important to remember to treat them the same as everyone else and encourage them to participate, rather than just give up on them and treat them as a lost cause. #keeponkeepinon
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of heartwork and I think that my students see it when I teach. I show them how much I care by responding to emails asap, answering their questions, and giving suggestions 24/7. I do get what you are saying though. There have been times when I have felt that my niceness has been taken advantage of. Just the other day, I had a student walk in super later to class and me being the nice person that I am, told her that I would not count her absent if she filled out the worksheet in detail before she left the class. Maybe this was way too nice of me, as there were about 20min left in class. I could've just as easily counted her absent and given here a zero for the assignment but I felt that she made the effort to come, even if was 30min late. When she got into the room, she apologized and her group members had informed me she would be late. I appreciated the effort and let it slide. As you said, it's not always a good thing but I feel that if we show them we care, they will definitely put in more effort. Heartwork works, we just have to figure out a way to limit it. <3
ReplyDeleteMorgan,
ReplyDeleteI completely understand where you are coming from. I was in very similar shoes my first semester teaching. I wanted my students to be successful so badly that I accidentally assumed I knew what was best for them, and forgot that I cannot force engagement and learning on them - they must be willing participants.
You turned around the "cellphone snap" in an effective way, restoring agency to your students and allowing them to feel there may be something to miss from the class if they were to not pay attention.
I want to assure you the exhaustion from all that heartwork is exhausting most of the time, but as you probably already know (if not you will the day you submit final grades), it is SO. WORTH. IT. For both you, and your students.
I am so proud of how much you've grown from your first week teaching. I'm sure your students, though resistant at times, love having an instructor that truly wants them to get the most out of their course in a way that breaks the traditional Banking Model.
Way to go #pedaMorgie!
#KeepOnKeepinOn #dontpanic
<3 Rudi
Pedamorgie! Pecamorgie!,
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting! The solution you pose here to get students off of their phones is absolute genius! (I will most likely be using this approach next semester... If boss lady don't fire me)
I like Palmer, but I think you bring up an important argument. It appears if you follow Palmer's instructions verbatim you guarantee yourself a one way ticket to overexertion. One cannot partake in a process and expect there to be no result in any way shape or form. Rather why go through a process if there is no type of result, or consequence, or reward?
What I'm trying to get at is anything that requires heartwork is a two-way street. Students' are in charge of their own success we are just there to guide them in some sort of direction. It is great that you want your students to succeed but they have to want to succeed as well. By no means is Heartwork easy, nevertheless, the process of heartwork we want to result in our students success but they will need to contribute to this heartwork in order to produce a positive outcome.
Allow your Heartwork be aimed at empowering students to illuminate their untapped potential.