Dianna Edwards and Writing
  • About me
  • Short stories
    • Death in the Desert
    • Secrets
    • Airport Drama
    • Acacia
    • Two Chooks in December
    • A Darned Surprise
    • The Sunset Mermaid
    • Friend or Foe?
    • At Rainbow's End
    • Sisterly Love
    • Good Times to Come
    • Being Famous
    • Something Special for Dinner
    • Walter's Secret
    • The Visitor
  • Children's stories
    • The Red Silk Kite
    • The Singing Tree
    • Beatrice Barnfeather
    • Garth's bath
    • Little Dog Tambo
    • Flowers For a Special Day
  • Non Fiction
    • Letter to a Soldier
    • The Body
    • Autumn Saturday
    • A Year With Billy
    • Lunch
    • Harry's Story
    • 2007 bushfires
    • My Father's Kite
    • Death of a Chook
    • Gentle Heartache
    • Shopping with Sisters
    • When I am Old
    • Matilda
    • Fragments
  • Blog

BLOG

Another of life’s lessons

7/2/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Here’s an example of another lesson learned from experience:

As a school teacher I spent some years teaching in the same school. As any teacher will tell you, once you are an established and well known member of staff, the students know you and have their assessment of you well planted, so to speak. So, throughout that particular 12 years I received respect and was (I assumed) well liked by the students. There were no discipline problems where I was concerned. I kept up a friendly but firm relationship with the children and they knew what I would and would not accept as far as behaviours went. It was a happy time.

 

But, then I left that school -  and teaching -  and became semi-retired.
Eventually, because I missed teaching and, admittedly, also missed the income, I took on some ‘relief’ work, that meant I was on-call to go to my pervious school and one or two others in the district.


It was a shock to me to be back in the ‘old school’ but with pupils I did not know and who did not know me.

I assumed my standing with them would be the same as it had been in days gone by and that I would be welcomed warmly and would assume my original role as a teacher whose attitudes and approach to all manner of school work and activities remained ‘set in concrete’ and understood.

Alas, it was not so.

On that first day as a relief teacher I was confronted with a classroom of Grade Five pupils who were not at all pleased that their regular teacher was having a day off and they had been assigned a woman whom they did not know and (apparently) did not like the look of!

My first day back at the old stamping ground and, I don’t know, did I look severe in my nervousness?

When it was clear that I was quite unfamiliar with their set classroom routine, there were mutterings of discontent.

I retaliated by trying to be assertive and to ‘show them who was boss’. This was a bad move.

The atmosphere in the classroom became tense and the more the students and I faced off each other the more the feeling between us became toxic!

Fortunately I resisted the urge to ‘get on my high horse’ and state boldly that I was not prepared to tolerate bad behaviour and that they were to do as I said no matter what - or there’d ‘be trouble’.

I did not entirely turn into a dragon.

There was only one thing I could do and that was to change tack altogether and introduce completely different tasks for us – as pupils and teacher together -  to work on.

I invented a couple of competitions, using simple word and maths games and during lunch break I chatted with some of the kids in as friendly a manner as I could muster.

Gradually, even though the initial damage could not be repaired, the day finished with a not completely disastrous relationship between me, the teacher, and the students. The set work had not all been accomplished but we had learnt some interesting things, had enjoyed a general knowledge quiz and, best of all, I had learnt to enter a new and untried classroom with a more friendly and open attitude.

Lesson: A friendly smile and a warm laugh can go a long way!

A frown and a look of superiority is a sure-fire way towards conflict and unhappiness.

You live and learn.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author notes

    I choose to comment on social issues and write creatively on a variety of subjects -  for a variety of audiences.

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012

    Categories

    All
    Childhood
    House
    Kindness
    On Death
    Social Comment
    Writing

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • About me
  • Short stories
    • Death in the Desert
    • Secrets
    • Airport Drama
    • Acacia
    • Two Chooks in December
    • A Darned Surprise
    • The Sunset Mermaid
    • Friend or Foe?
    • At Rainbow's End
    • Sisterly Love
    • Good Times to Come
    • Being Famous
    • Something Special for Dinner
    • Walter's Secret
    • The Visitor
  • Children's stories
    • The Red Silk Kite
    • The Singing Tree
    • Beatrice Barnfeather
    • Garth's bath
    • Little Dog Tambo
    • Flowers For a Special Day
  • Non Fiction
    • Letter to a Soldier
    • The Body
    • Autumn Saturday
    • A Year With Billy
    • Lunch
    • Harry's Story
    • 2007 bushfires
    • My Father's Kite
    • Death of a Chook
    • Gentle Heartache
    • Shopping with Sisters
    • When I am Old
    • Matilda
    • Fragments
  • Blog