I’m wondering so I have to ask. Did your students have any thoughts about your leaving their school? Did they reflect on your teaching methods since your instructional methods are so unique and they probably will never encounter anything like them again?
Nah. I mean, we all patted each other on the back as this thing wound down but nothing explicitly related to teaching or learning. I mean, c’mon, it’s June.
Except, okay, there was this one particularly painful moment, which I swore I’d never blog, though maybe the comments are cool.
One of the two smartest kids in remedial Algebra – the sort of kid you wish wasn’t in remedial Algebra even though you’re really glad she’s in your remedial Algebra, you know? – came up to me after I first announced I was leaving. She came up all melodramatic and jokey.
“Mr. Dan, I can’t believe you’re going. I’m gonna cry.”
I was walking around, cleaning up, and tossed off my standard “Cougar to death” recitation: “Yeah, I know. Way sad, right? I’m gonna miss this place.”
But then she told me to quit moving around. “You don’t understand,” she said. And then she started crying. A couple of quick, loud sobs which she sucked back in as fast as she could.
“I can’t learn math from anyone but you. What am I gonna do after you go?”
This is because someone in her lineup of former math teachers convinced her, at some crucial moment, that she was dumb, that she would never understand math, a sentence which she’d serve all the way up until my class, where, upon experiencing the slightest acts of patience and encouragement, became the student she always was. Someone’s gotta get penalized, smacked in the face with a frying pan over this.
She ran out of my class saying she “felt like an idiot,” which is exactly the problem I’m talking about here.
One of the biggest obstacles I’ve found I have to overcome when working with kids who have been taught to think they can’t is dependency. That’s a tough one. I need to be more than a teacher with novel ways of thinking and learning, I need to teach my kids that they can do it with or without me.
Right, the pendulum may have swung too far in the opposite direction, in my student’s case. She’s no longer averse to her teacher. But now she’s dependent.
Dependent? Perhaps. Perhaps too she has learned that she can learn math. Hopefully she has learned what she needs in order to be successful and can advocate for that in the future.
Some of my students from last year e-mailed me math questions last fall, when they were stuck in their new courses. Not that they’d never had a decent math teacher before me, I mean – the point is that you shouldn’t be surprised if this student or other of your students will stay in touch. You may have a chance to remind her of things she did that helped her master new material.
Mr. Meyer, that is an amzing picture! Good thing that I read the comments because I actually thought that you did that!!!
But I wouldn’t be that surprised if you actually had.
Emily: It’s important to realize that, IRL, Dan is gangly. He couldn’t hurdle a hamster, much less a railing. Don’t let his edubrilliance fool you – Dan is basically a physical troglodyte.
28 Comments
peter thomsen
June 12, 2008 - 3:08 pm -hot. congrats. i just finished showing off your summer staff slideshow from last year to andy–he was truly impressed.
Christian Long
June 12, 2008 - 6:14 pm -Echoing Peter: congrats! Well earned and looking forward to your next step(s), Dan!
jose
June 12, 2008 - 7:19 pm -Love the picture. Reminds me of Fresh Prince when they kick out Jazz, only much better …
Ben
June 12, 2008 - 7:30 pm -Congrats! Jose, you’re so right…it’s very Jazzy Jeff-y.
How many takes did it take to get that perfect paper-flying-manbag-swinging look?
dan
June 12, 2008 - 8:20 pm -Five on the manbag. Three on the paper. That’s four composited photos there.
Ben
June 12, 2008 - 8:57 pm -Magic = gone
(Respect for image editing skills)^mad
dan
June 12, 2008 - 9:53 pm -As long as I’m busting up myths, I may as well tell you that Santa Claus is a real jerk in person. FWIW, here is the composite.
Michael
June 12, 2008 - 11:57 pm -What?! Santa Claus is REAL?! That totally changes my world view. :)
Dina
June 13, 2008 - 4:48 am -You even caught the right angle of sunlight on your legs. Bellisimo.
dan
June 13, 2008 - 9:01 am -Well, y’know, it’s the little things.
Dina
June 13, 2008 - 11:13 am -Aha. You didn’t do it on purpose, did you.
:: gales of laughter ::
dan
June 13, 2008 - 12:17 pm -You’re kidding me, right?
Paul B
June 13, 2008 - 12:42 pm -Just curious, what did you use to build the composite?
dan
June 13, 2008 - 1:16 pm -Adobe Photoshop, natch!
Dina
June 13, 2008 - 1:21 pm -Yes, yes, major kidding, Picasso. Have some more absinthe.
Karen
June 13, 2008 - 2:27 pm -Congratulations, Dan.
I’m wondering so I have to ask. Did your students have any thoughts about your leaving their school? Did they reflect on your teaching methods since your instructional methods are so unique and they probably will never encounter anything like them again?
Inquiring minds want to know
dan
June 13, 2008 - 8:00 pm -Nah. I mean, we all patted each other on the back as this thing wound down but nothing explicitly related to teaching or learning. I mean, c’mon, it’s June.
Except, okay, there was this one particularly painful moment, which I swore I’d never blog, though maybe the comments are cool.
One of the two smartest kids in remedial Algebra – the sort of kid you wish wasn’t in remedial Algebra even though you’re really glad she’s in your remedial Algebra, you know? – came up to me after I first announced I was leaving. She came up all melodramatic and jokey.
“Mr. Dan, I can’t believe you’re going. I’m gonna cry.”
I was walking around, cleaning up, and tossed off my standard “Cougar to death” recitation: “Yeah, I know. Way sad, right? I’m gonna miss this place.”
But then she told me to quit moving around. “You don’t understand,” she said. And then she started crying. A couple of quick, loud sobs which she sucked back in as fast as she could.
“I can’t learn math from anyone but you. What am I gonna do after you go?”
This is because someone in her lineup of former math teachers convinced her, at some crucial moment, that she was dumb, that she would never understand math, a sentence which she’d serve all the way up until my class, where, upon experiencing the slightest acts of patience and encouragement, became the student she always was. Someone’s gotta get penalized, smacked in the face with a frying pan over this.
She ran out of my class saying she “felt like an idiot,” which is exactly the problem I’m talking about here.
tracy
June 14, 2008 - 6:24 am -One of the biggest obstacles I’ve found I have to overcome when working with kids who have been taught to think they can’t is dependency. That’s a tough one. I need to be more than a teacher with novel ways of thinking and learning, I need to teach my kids that they can do it with or without me.
Congrats on the end of the year!
dan
June 14, 2008 - 6:34 am -Right, the pendulum may have swung too far in the opposite direction, in my student’s case. She’s no longer averse to her teacher. But now she’s dependent.
JackieB
June 14, 2008 - 9:04 am -Dependent? Perhaps. Perhaps too she has learned that she can learn math. Hopefully she has learned what she needs in order to be successful and can advocate for that in the future.
Maybe.
H.
June 14, 2008 - 9:41 am -I hope she reads what you wrote about her here.
Some of my students from last year e-mailed me math questions last fall, when they were stuck in their new courses. Not that they’d never had a decent math teacher before me, I mean – the point is that you shouldn’t be surprised if this student or other of your students will stay in touch. You may have a chance to remind her of things she did that helped her master new material.
Kris
June 14, 2008 - 1:17 pm -Clearly I missed something – where are you off to next year?
Michael K.
June 14, 2008 - 2:30 pm -That’s the funny part. BTW: I swear you told that same sobbing girl story when you left Florin, Dan. That or something similar, no?
dan
June 14, 2008 - 7:05 pm -@Kris, I resigned my job in March and have been job-searching since. A lot of stuff will either fall into or out of place this coming Wednesday.
Emily
June 14, 2008 - 9:10 pm -Mr. Meyer, that is an amzing picture! Good thing that I read the comments because I actually thought that you did that!!!
But I wouldn’t be that surprised if you actually had.
Michael K.
June 15, 2008 - 12:45 am -Emily: It’s important to realize that, IRL, Dan is gangly. He couldn’t hurdle a hamster, much less a railing. Don’t let his edubrilliance fool you – Dan is basically a physical troglodyte.
Emily
June 15, 2008 - 1:03 pm -*Ouch*
~Are you going to take that Mr. Meyer???~
That may be true for all of what I know; Michael K. Thanks for filling me in!xP