Hey Teach. It's Not About You.

[SweetSue92]

It's interesting to watch the culture wake up to "Relationships matter" and "classroom culture" in schools--some of which is good, but some of which has frankly gone too far. It has become obvious in young teachers moaning about their inability to share their personal lives with their young students, as in the Florida law.

I have noticed that younger teachers think this is of utmost importance. They start the year with a slideshow, "This is Miss Smith" or some-such.

The kids do not care.

They do not care about your hobbies, interests, vacations. Your spouse, your kids, the fact that you redid your bathroom this summer. They do not care that you are a marathon runner or a bookworm.

The kids want a fair teacher who has something to teach them, who is warm and kind but not a pushover. WHEN that is established as a baseline, and trust and respect is built, and you listen to who they are, then they might ask you questions which teachers may or may not choose to answer.

We have lost our way with all this "HERE'S ME!" business from teachers. If you think the classroom is about you, you are absolutely in the wrong profession.

 

[Unkotare]

.....

They do not care about your hobbies, interests, vacations. Your spouse, your kids, the fact that you redid your bathroom this summer. They do not care that you are a marathon runner or a bookworm.
.....

Maybe the very young kids you work with. Older kids won't stop asking about all of the above. I have to deflect personal questions all the time.

 

[SweetSue92]

Maybe the very young kids you work with. Older kids won't stop asking about all of the above. I have to deflect personal questions all the time.

Probably because they have been inculcated to expect the slideshow since kindergarten, I don't know. And because they're teenagers and looking for cracks in the armor lol

 

[Unkotare]

Probably because they have been inculcated to expect the slideshow since kindergarten,...

More than half my students weren't in the US until a year or two ago.

 

[SweetSue92]

More than half my students weren't in the US until a year or two ago.

That's interesting. I think American culture is the "worst" one for what you might call "oversharing". So I'm a bit surprised these students are the ones so interested in your personal life. But that also might depend on where they come from of course.

I am affiliated with a new teacher who makes every slide show and game about her. With her bitmoji on it. This is what I'm talking about--and this is not unusual from what I've seen.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

It's interesting to watch the culture wake up to "Relationships matter" and "classroom culture" in schools--some of which is good, but some of which has frankly gone too far. It has become obvious in young teachers moaning about their inability to share their personal lives with their young students, as in the Florida law.

I have noticed that younger teachers think this is of utmost importance. They start the year with a slideshow, "This is Miss Smith" or some-such.

The kids do not care.

They do not care about your hobbies, interests, vacations. Your spouse, your kids, the fact that you redid your bathroom this summer. They do not care that you are a marathon runner or a bookworm.

The kids want a fair teacher who has something to teach them, who is warm and kind but not a pushover. WHEN that is established as a baseline, and trust and respect is built, and you listen to who they are, then they might ask you questions which teachers may or may not choose to answer.

We have lost our way with all this "HERE'S ME!" business from teachers. If you think the classroom is about you, you are absolutely in the wrong profession.

You obvious have taken the liberal position and you do not know anything about the new Florida law.

Why should a K-3 teacher be discussing LGBTQ issues with those kids?

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

More than half my students weren't in the US until a year or two ago.

Illegals?

 

[hadit]

You obvious have taken the liberal position and you do not know anything about the new Florida law.

Why should a K-3 teacher be discussing LGBTQ issues with those kids?

I find it interesting that many, if not most or all, of those upset that teachers are not supposed to talk about homosexuality and their personal lives to young students would absolutely bust a gasket if a teacher started telling the students all about his/her Christianity, what it means to them, how fulfilling it makes their life, etc.

 

[rightwinger]

The kids do not care.

They do not care about your hobbies, interests, vacations. Your spouse, your kids, the fact that you redid your bathroom this summer. They do not care that you are a marathon runner or a bookworm.

I say bullshit

I think kids want to know about the background of who is teaching them
They want to relate to their teachers

Teachers are not machines, they are real people with real lives

 

[rightwinger]

would absolutely bust a gasket if a teacher started telling the students all about his/her Christianity, what it means to them, how fulfilling it makes their life, etc.

And if a teacher was an atheist who tells the students that there is no proof that God exists?

 

[SweetSue92]

You obvious have taken the liberal position and you do not know anything about the new Florida law.

Why should a K-3 teacher be discussing LGBTQ issues with those kids?

You misunderstand. They are moaning about the Florida law...but not correctly. I'm solidly with you in that's it's wholly inappropriate for teachers to be discussing LBGT issues with kids.

 

[SweetSue92]

I say bullshit

I think kids want to know about the background of who is teaching them
They want to relate to their teachers

Teachers are not machines, they are real people with real lives

And young children are egocentric. Not in a bad way; it's developmental. They care very much about how the teacher makes them feel, if the teacher is fair and nice and smart. After that they can maybe begin to care about the teacher's "real life"...but not so much really. Not as much as the child cares about his/her own.

This is normal.

 

[Dogmaphobe]

I say bullshit

I think kids want to know about the background of who is teaching them
They want to relate to their teachers

Teachers are not machines, they are real people with real lives

It sure wasn't that way when I was a kid. It's not that we saw them as machines, of course, but they were there to teach us and not bond with us on a personal level -- obviously so. They had professional ethics and those ethics included keeping their politics and personal lives out of the classroom.


As far as calling bullshit, you are obviously lying if you try to claim your own experience in school was radically different.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

It's interesting to watch the culture wake up to "Relationships matter" and "classroom culture" in schools--some of which is good, but some of which has frankly gone too far. It has become obvious in young teachers moaning about their inability to share their personal lives with their young students, as in the Florida law.

I have noticed that younger teachers think this is of utmost importance. They start the year with a slideshow, "This is Miss Smith" or some-such.

The kids do not care.

They do not care about your hobbies, interests, vacations. Your spouse, your kids, the fact that you redid your bathroom this summer. They do not care that you are a marathon runner or a bookworm.

The kids want a fair teacher who has something to teach them, who is warm and kind but not a pushover. WHEN that is established as a baseline, and trust and respect is built, and you listen to who they are, then they might ask you questions which teachers may or may not choose to answer.

We have lost our way with all this "HERE'S ME!" business from teachers. If you think the classroom is about you, you are absolutely in the wrong profession.

My husband had been able to maintain contact via Facebook with the kids he taught in sixth grade back in the 70's, many of whom were now grandparents. What struck me as odd at first, but then upon pondering not so odd, was that very few of them were able to call him by his first name even though they were now peers. I accepted it as an indication of the deep respect they had for him that they insisted on continuing to call him Mr. SoAndSo, so many decades later. Will children these days grow up with such respect for their teachers?

 

[rightwinger]

You obvious have taken the liberal position and you do not know anything about the new Florida law.

Why should a K-3 teacher be discussing LGBTQ issues with those kids?

Should a K-3 teacher who has a same sex spouse be allowed to discuss their spouse in class? Can they display a picture of their spouse on their desk?

If there is a student in K-3 with two mommies, should a teacher be allowed to discuss it if the children in class are confused why there isn’t a daddy?

Florida says you can’t.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

You misunderstand. They are moaning about the Florida law...but not correctly. I'm solidly with you in that's it's wholly inappropriate for teachers to be discussing LBGT issues with kids.

You must have misstated your opinion in the previous post I quoted.

 

[Dogmaphobe]

Should a K-3 teacher who has a same sex spouse be allowed to discuss their spouse in class? Can they display a picture of their spouse on their desk?

If there is a student in K-3 with two mommies, should a teacher be allowed to discuss it if the children in class are confused why there isn’t a daddy?

Florida says you can’t.

I never had ANY teacher at ANY level displaying pictures of their spouse on their desk when I was at school.

 

[rightwinger]

I never had ANY teacher at ANY level displaying pictures of their spouse on their desk when I was at school.

I remember seeing spouse pictures, family pictures, pet pictures on a teachers desk
I also remember teachers talking about their husbands or wives in class

Florida says you can’t.

 

[hadit]

And if a teacher was an atheist who tells the students that there is no proof that God exists?

I don't know. Do you think they would want an atheist telling the students that?

 

[hadit]

I remember seeing spouse pictures, family pictures, pet pictures on a teachers desk
I also remember teachers talking about their husbands or wives in class

Florida says you can’t.

Do you think that's a good thing or a bad thing?