Front Seat Explosion

I thought you handled the explosion nicely in the conversation afterward, giving the student your time outside of class, showing him that the relationship mattered to you, and the student did well too. I was impressed that he apologized to you. When we split up in the tutorial into our HBDI categories and discussed how we might have handled it, I was surprised and pleased to hear others saying what I was thinking, but not brave enough to say—there might have been a way to laugh about the explosion when it happened, of course with good will and without humiliating the student. I think that expressing your surprise at his freak-out and gently laughing it off might have diffused some of the tension for everyone, including the student, who was just as surprised and very embarrassed. It would have let him know that you were okay, that he hadn’t hurt you too badly. Of course this would only work if amusement were an authentic reaction to his explosion. But wouldn’t good humor be a great way to respond to almost everything? Obviously, I’m not suggesting laughing like a fool at everything that challenges us, but cultivating the disposition I know I will need to stay happy in this job.

My learning style came out very strongly C and D. I’m sure this will affect my teaching style—it already affects everything else about my life. In this course, I’m struggling to strengthen the A and B sides—the digital literacy, the unit outlines with all their coding and columns, the standards and rubrics and bullet points. I understand and respect the value of being highly organized and prepared. But wow. It’s doesn’t come naturally. I want to be spontaneous and nimble in my actions, with my mind in big-picture-land, thinking about what issues motivate my students, what kind of theatre piece we can make or book we can read together, what they care about, what their lives are like, who they are and want to be, building quality relationships in the classroom. Maybe if I think about how A-B skills can promote that, I’ll be able to connect them more to MY motivations (What kind of teacher do I want to be?). For example, Meg talked in her lecture a few weeks ago about lack of access to technology and good ICT learning--and therefore lack of digital literacy--further disadvantaging already disadvantaged kids, I had a little “aha!” moment. Suddenly all of ICT, stuff that I had thrown squarely into the A-B zones, was C-D. Cool.