Blog 4 Ur Lyf

Just trying to look cool with that title. Trying to get down with the hood/crew lingo. I sound so 80's when I write like that. I guess that is how my students see me sometimes. It really is true when they say that many teachers go back to 'school' to be the 'coolest kid' in school. I don't think that is why I got into it in the beginning, but I do recognise that to a degree this happens from time to time. (Listen to all the passive justification I piled into that sentence!) I have noticed that I am doing it less frequently this year than last year, but at times I get caught up with the student bitching, fights, gossip as well as wanting to look cool when I can. Hip, I should say. Like sampling a few Scribe tracks with my Year 8's yesterday. I couldn't resist. The fact that I know who Dr. Dre is and don't want a prescription from him or that I pump 50 (Fiddy) in the car after a bad day, or for a rev up in the mornings doesn't mean I'm down with the kids. But I have had some of my tastes influenced by them. I still think I am young enough to get away with it...and I actually like that stuff. But when will my used by date be evident? Will I know? Will I be able to stop? I would hate to end up looking like the poor 'woman in the boot' lady who was killed and then had her image killed when the media kept flashing those photos of her in a boob tube and three quarter pants. I hope this isn't in bad taste. I just feel that sometimes, like all the Australian Idol wannabes, friends and family need to be honest with them. So I put it to those out there reading this...if I ever need your polite honesty...DO IT! I don't want to end up as mutton parading as lamb...I already have enough trouble trying not to blend in with the students, but imagine if that was still the case in 10 or 20 years- Yuk! Okay, that's not even why I wanted to blog.

I logged on to transcribe a letter written between two of my Year 8's (1 male, 1 female). It was written after I had assigned them a seating plan and I guess shows the personalities and insecurities of these two, but more than that, the conditioning of their home lives. Let me show you and then I will analyse.

A: Ho-llo
B: Hi Do u Like Sitten HeRe?
A: It's not bad
B: Good If its bad i'll Hit U in DA HEAD
B: R U in love wif GeorgA
A: No I don't I'm only 14 I only like her
B: Kool R U turning 15 years old?
A: Yeah next year

Student A comes from a very strict and currently unsettled Turkish family. I can almost hear his parents or older brothers telling him that "You're only 14, what do you know about love?" And so his comment about only liking her because he is 14 reflects that. Student B has low self esteem and is not very popular at school. Her enquiry whether he was happy sitting next to her reflects this view of herself. I really enjoy looking at how students home lives position them at school, particularly the comments they make in class.

On this, I recently asked students to write letters of complaint. Some of the topics they proposed we could write letters of complaint about were mortgages going up for pensioners, the private versus public school debate, the state of Victoria's hospital system and I thought to myself "These are the thoughts of their parents, not them". And so the cycle of conditioning continues...for good and for bad. I now know I need to consider the individual as a whole when I'm planning, teaching, interacting and reprimanding my students. How could anyone not?

Bye for now,
M x