Sicheii Yazhi

The end of the year can be a trying time for teachers, particularly teachers of seniors. The concept of “one more month” translates roughly into “school’s over” (or, if they’re trying to be considerate, “school’s practically over”). If it wasn’t there already, a hatred of school grows quickly during this final month like mold on soggy bread. In this environment, it’s easy for teachers to start disliking the students as much as they dislike school, and easier to call them “punks” or “jerks” or other things than by their given names. For this condition, I spread the blame like this: 60% to the system, 30% to the teachers, 10% to the students. Here’s what I mean…

The System
Nothing new here, really. I’ve been outlining some of this over a number of previous posts. However, that’s not really what I want to focus on right now, so I’ll summarize by saying that there are many not-too-difficult things we could do in the world of education to improve student motivation and enjoyment. What comes most readily to mind is the physical environment and schedule: too many schools are housed in sterile institutional buildings and are run on a tight schedule of bells. No one I know enjoys living, or learning, in an environment like that. Here’s a few related articles:

• A Comfortable Truth
• Buildings That Teach
• Why Teachers Quit
• Let’s Abolish High School
• A Library to Hang Out
• Teacher Working Conditions Are Student Learning Conditions

The Teachers
Though I’m assigning only half the blame to teachers that I assign to “the system,” this is the percentage that teachers can actually control. That’s an obvious statement, but it’s too-often overlooked … at least by me. When I’m frustrated with the way my students are acting and am (internally) cursing them or the system, I often forget that I’m the part of the problem I can most affect–and so am, in terms of my own actions, most to blame.

Usually that’s about the time I realize that I’ve failed to adequately challenge them with material and tasks that are intrinsically useful and interesting. In other words, when I slack, they slack, and most of the frustration I feel can be traced back to my poor planning and preparation. I’m still guilty of this from time to time even after nine years of teaching.

The Students
Well, I mean … they are teenagers in a culture that worships and indulges youth … and summer is almost here. Their paltry 10% of the blame is barely worth noting.

So …
Acknowledging the problem and its causes can often go a long way in improving strained and drained relations at the end of the year. That, along with a final push on my part to make the learning (both content and approach) useful and appropriate to the season, should be enough to get us through and still preserve the value and the enjoyment of our time in the classroom.