The students who did the exact opposite of what was planned!!!


Hi new teachers, 

It might happen that students do the exact opposite of what you plan for. I am relating two incidents here.

1. I remember many years ago, in an international school in India, we had a student who needed scaffolds. I remember I would spend hours with the learning support department, showing them my plan for the unit, explaining my learning engagements and then showing them my formative and summative assessments. We would then sit together and work on the scaffolds.

I remember one particular in-class assessment where the learning support colleague and I worked painstakingly on the scaffolds for one particular student. We created a checklist and a word bank to help the student. Based on the principle of inclusive assessments, we included this for all students. 

However, the student who we wanted to help was the only one who did not use the checklist or the word bank!!!! 

We were so heartbroken, my colleague from the learning support department and I...in fact, when I was walking around when the students were working on the assessment, I stopped by the student and told him a couple of times to use the checklist and he said he does not want to!!! Our idea was to help the student and it boomeranged!!

And yet, that should not be the reason you stop trying and stop helping. In fact, I have had so much positive experience with inclusive assessments that I am convinced it is the way forward. It helps the students in need but also is beneficial to all students. And the learning support department is the pillar of every school, and can help students in wonderful ways. You need to plan your schedule so that you have time to meet them to figure out ways to help your students.

2. Another time, we wanted to sensitise students about the LGBTQ community and during the assembly, one student was asked to read about an event that the school was planning. When the student read the word "Hijra', (transgender; a person who is male at birth but identifies as a female) the entire students assembled, laughed. I was extremely upset. Angry. Pained. Incredulous. I lashed out at the students. Told them that they have grown up in very privileged households, were never in want, had parents provide for their every need...did they ever think how Hijras in India, in Mumbai lived...they were disowned by parents, had to beg for a living and/or had to do sex work as they were denied jobs, were ridiculed and insulted where ever they went...how dare the students make fun of them...I was so angry...

Then some students retorted that they laughed at the way the student had pronounced the word 'Hijra' and did not really make fun of them, while others said that I had no right to get angry at all the students if some of them laughed...and that upset me even more. I did not see any remorse, any reflection on whether they were insensitive, only defence. I remember that all of them later boycotted the event as they felt 'judged'. 

The assembly was to sensitise the students...and it boomeranged!

I think back and reflect on this very often. Anger cannot be the first response. And yet, I could not bear that students laughed at a vulnerable community. I still wonder if there might have been a better way to have handled the situation. Could I have smiled and told the students not to make fun of the community? What I told them in anger about their life vs that of the Hijra,  could that have been told calmly? Would that have communicated to them the gravity of their insensitive laughter? I felt at that time that my anger and hurt would let them know that there is always a boundary that cannot be crossed...I felt that if I had smiled and told them to refrain from laughing, maybe they would not realise that some behaviours are completely not acceptable..but I am not sure now.

I had in one of my earlier blog posts suggested that when you are upset, don't get angry, instead smile and communicate your ideas calmly. But this was one time I could not do it. After so many years, I am still conflicted about my response...


Cheers!!

#relationships,#new teachers,#behaviour,#school,#learning,#teacher-student relationships,#myp,#teaching,#students,#learning support,#ib, #LGBTQ #intercultural awareness



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