| The Schechter Saga, Part VI | for everyone |
So I received my first kippah the other day. Onward on the spiritual path.
I was e-mailing with a former student (well, she's still a senior at Hancock -- which isn't to say she's been a senior longer than necessary) and she asked me how school was going. I shared some frustrations with her.
Maybe my expectations were unreasonable, maybe they were based on stereotypes , but I expected more intellectual curiosity and less resistance. I recognize that they're eighth graders looking forward to high school and tired of this elementary atmosphere, but I really thought I would have encountered more enthusiasm for learning. The best I get are some who occasionally don't mind learning if it's not a whole lot of trouble for them, with sporadic bursts of curiosity.
Again, this may say more about me (and my naivete) than about them. Or maybe I need to look inward as to why I don't get them more excited more often. I don't even mean for this to sound like a complaint; it's more disappointment, and maybe it's just this group and next year (yes, the odds seem to have shifted in favor of there being a "next year," at least for the moment) will be better. I do know that I'll underestimate the next group and perhaps hope to be pleasantly surprised rather than disappointed.
Or maybe part of the problem is that it's almost impossible to gain traction here (I'm not the only teacher who feels this way by any stretch). Every time you start to establish a rhythm of teaching and learning, something gets in the way. Friday was Purim (kind of a Jewish Halloween party), Wednesday (today) we hosted 20 boys from Loyola Academy for, well, I don't know, really, and although I could make a guess or two, it would represent a level of cynicism that I try to avoid. I remember interruptions being a complaint at Hancock, too, but I'm sure it wasn't to this extent. I've gotten a peek at next year's calendar. It appears we get September off (slight exaggeration).
In the meantime, I'm just kind of shrugging off the kids' apathy and gently nudging them down a path of learning. I fear I'm too old and too tired to go into battle mode; perhaps that may not make me the best fit for this school, but I'm willing to give it another year to find out. I've already started thinking what I'll do differently, given the chance. Stay tuned.
E Carl Anderson wrote on Mar 5, '10
ReplyDeleteNaive? About what? I think kids are soooo street-wise today that they have to be even more "cool" about learning than we were, is it mostly an act? Is it mainly the age-group? It is not you.