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A little background info:
I'm in my last semester of college to become a music teacher and I'm currently in the process of student teaching. For those who are unfamiliar, student teaching is where you work a full-time job for no pay, actually I had to pay around $3500 for the semester, which is cheap compared to other places.
Don't get me wrong, I'm having a blast and learning a ton. I love to work with the students and mostly I love music, but it's all the other BS that teachers have to put up with, mainly parents and administrators, that makes me second guess my career decision. I'm lucky to be student teaching with a couple of teachers who have earned a stellar reputation and are respected by all members of the staff. The same cannot be said for parents. I knew going in that parents' view on public schools and education in general have shifted radically. Even when I was a kid (I'm 23 now) I was responsible for getting good grades, scoring well on tests, and managing my behavior in the classroom. Think back to when your parents were in school. If a kid failed a test, the parents would punish the kid. Nowadays, if a kid fails a test or gets an F in a class, chances are good that a parent will either call, email, or storm in right after school.
![[image loading]](http://themetapicture.com/media/funny-parents-grades-teachers-comic.jpg)
Puts it into perspective.
Parents (and future parents), I would like to tell you what I, as a future educator, think of this change in attitude. I will start off with a question: Why am I responsible for your kid's grades? Why am I responsible for you kid getting a good score on the SAT? Why am I expected to spoon feed your child everything that he/she will need to know on the test? I'm responsible for teaching your child what they need to know to succeed in school and life after schooling. I can't take the test for your student, nor can I write the college entry essay for her. I'm trying to my job, but your kid has to pull his own weight, too!
Here 's an idea, make your kids turn off the TV, go upstairs, and read their textbook. Hold the students responsible for their poor grades and punish them accordingly. Lay out a series of consequences if the grades don't improve and enforce them. I bet you my nonexistent salary that grades will improve, especially if the consequences are things like no Xbox, no computer, and no visiting friends outside of school events. I really feel that parents need to hold their kids accountable for their behavior, as it will have a huge impact (positive or negative) on the child's future. Speaking of accountability, here's one college professors version of test review  .
![[image loading]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/418374_247535935322914_227448030665038_579266_2120434352_n.jpg)
Oh, how I wish I could do this with high school students...
It makes me sad that teachers are held more accountable for students progress and test scores than the students themselves! As a teacher, I try to teach my kids everything that I can about music. I teach them the notes, the rhythms, what the markings mean; but the kids have to take their instruments home and practice! Now if I tell the student every single week that A flat is played with the second and third valves, but the kid doesn't even practiced and gets a III at solo contest because he played A natural instead of A flat, did I fail at my job? Some might say yes, but I did what I could. Short of standing behind the student and holding the horn to his face while pushing down the valves, I did everything in my power to teach him. It's his responsibility to apply what he learned and be able to remember.
OK, I need to stop for a second and make myself perfectly clear. Not all parents are like this. Not all parents think that teachers should give their students A's just for showing up. In fact, I feel confident that the majority of parents where I live (Upper Midwest) know that student learning and achievement needs to be done by the student. I point out geographic location because I know that people up here are somewhat old-fashioned, and I haven't spent enough time in other locations to make an educational opinion. That said, there are more and more of these "helicopter parents" that come running in every time their kid gets an F, or even a C. It's a generational division, and I think it is illustrated very well in Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino. If you haven't seen that movie, I encourage you to. No spoilers here, but it is a good movie for sure.
This is where I take my leave, but know that I have much more to talk about on the subject of education. Teacher salaries and benefits vs. Costs of education and certification is probably next, if anyone cares. And if you don't, that's cool too!
Just know this parents (both current and future), we teachers didn't go into teaching to get rich. We don't buy BMWs and we don't have pools in our yards. We go into teaching because we either A) love working with young people B) love our subject and feel like sharing it with others C) firmly believe that we can make a difference in the lives of students or D) all of the above. We want what's best for your kid, but we need your support!
 
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I don't think it should be the educator's responsibility to motivate the students. That should fall upon the parents and students themselves.
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this is so true. which is one of the reasons i just switched from social studies ed to a history major. did some field experience and really did not like it for the shit pay. don't really know what i will do now but I am a junior so probably gotta figure it out huh?
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Congratulations! you just made your own job seem completely redundant.
I have alot of respect for teachers and their shit wages and what they have to put up with considering what they do is so important makes me really upset, but reading your blog it doesn't seem you think you are supposed to do anything but tell the kids what note to play? motivating your students IS part of what you should do, sure you can't always get results and if you did what you could it's certainly not your fault and you shouldn't get shit for it.
edit was to post below me^
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On February 29 2012 16:24 nttea wrote:
Congratulations! you just made your own job seem completely redundant.
Do explain.
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I agree for the most part. My mother is a teacher and she always made sure I knew how to read/write do math ect. in those first few years of elementary school. However I do think some teachers are absolutely horrible and when you don't understand it is partially their fault. I spent the better half of my grade 12 math course teaching my corner of the class what the teacher had just explained. I thought it was a lot of fun but looking back on it it's kinda sad =/
I've always had a lot of respect for teachers though especially for dealing with this kind of bs -.-
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I've always been held accountable for my work, and I do feel that that's the correct mentality with which to approach the matter. I've had great teachers, and I have a good deal of respect for what they do.
That said, I understand that underqualified, poorly trained, or negligent teachers can do a great deal of damage, but I place the bulk of the responsibility on administration, teachers' unions, and teaching training policies.
Keep pursuing your goals and be a great inspiration! We need more people with passion and determination
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On February 29 2012 16:26 OmniEulogy wrote:I agree for the most part. My mother is a teacher and she always made sure I knew how to read/write do math ect. in those first few years of elementary school. However I do think some teachers are absolutely horrible and when you don't understand it is partially their fault. I spent the better half of my grade 12 math course teaching my corner of the class what the teacher had just explained. I thought it was a lot of fun but looking back on it it's kinda sad =/ I've always had a lot of respect for teachers though especially for dealing with this kind of bs -.-
Very true, very true. There are some teachers who should not be allowed to step into a classroom. But I think that they are being weeded out mainly through retirement. Standards for teachers have jumped up a notch. There has been and always will be excellent teachers, and there will always be some teachers like Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It's the nature of the world.
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Isn't it a good thing if parents are calling after a bad grade? Regardless of their tone, your job is to convince them to help their child if he isn't studying at home, and to listen to what problems the kid thinks he has. There are very, very few jobs where you don't have to deal with angry people - and angry people will always seem like cunts.
Just because dealing with these parents is hard doesn't mean that it's bad, or not important. You should be happy it actually gives you a chance to help the kid.
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On February 29 2012 16:24 nttea wrote:
Congratulations! you just made your own job seem completely redundant.
I have alot of respect for teachers and their shit wages and what they have to put up with considering what they do is so important makes me really upset, but reading your blog it doesn't seem you think you are supposed to do anything but tell the kids what note to play? motivating your students IS part of what you should do, sure you can't always get results and if you did what you could it's certainly not your fault and you shouldn't get shit for it.
edit was to post below me^
Yeah I re-read the blog and I see what you mean. Motivation is a big part of my job, and I should have provided some examples of how i can get students motivated. It's hard, honestly. I try to build a personal relationship with them, so they will want to do what they are supposed to. I try to be a hardass, so they want to do it just to not get yelled at (gave that up after one student). I try to show them that I really do know what I'm talking about and that they could learn a lot from me. <-- The only students who buy into that are the advanced/interested students (and they are already motivated, for the most part). There is really only one way to provide solid motivation, and that's through grades. I hate that. I hate it a lot.
There's only so much that a teacher can do to extrinsically motivate students. The best motivation comes from within. Mainly I try to make my lessons and classes as interesting as I can. For example, instead of beating this one boring (in their minds) concert band song to death, I passed out Bad Romance (I know I know, but they're teenagers!!!) and we pull that out when things are about to implode.
Like I said, I'm not even a real teacher yet, so I obviously have nearly zero experience. I try new things everyday. Trial and error is the name of the game.
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I have a couple friends who are teachers and I respect them very much. It can be a tough job. While I do agree that parents need to be more involved with their child's education, there are some awful teachers in the field. I went through junior high failing math. I eventually came to the conclusion that I was absolutely trash at it. Come to find out I wasn't at all, I just had a couple of really bad math teachers. I suppose I shouldn't generalize teachers with my anecdotal evidence but it's not always the kids fault and I would imagine they have no idea why. I suppose a lot this also comes back to parents needing to be more involved with their child's education.
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On February 29 2012 16:37 Jehct wrote:
Isn't it a good thing if parents are calling after a bad grade? Regardless of their tone, your job is to convince them to help their child if he isn't studying at home, and to listen to what problems the kid thinks he has. There are very, very few jobs where you don't have to deal with angry people - and angry people will always seem like cunts.
Just because dealing with these parents is hard doesn't mean that it's bad, or not important. You should be happy it actually gives you a chance to help the kid.
This isn't about the tone of the parents but their beliefs. Most parents nowadays (well, in the U.S.) assume a stance that their kid can't possibly be doing anything wrong and absolutely deserve an A regardless of how much they know. There's hardly any room to help the kids (also, the kids don't even want help, which makes it worse) when the parents' complaints amount to "my kid doesn't need help in school. He is a genius and deserves an A. How dare you insinuate otherwise!" I have some pretty strong opinions about our educational system and parental attitudes regarding education that I don't really have to time to rant about but it does, for the most part, agree with OP.
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On February 29 2012 16:37 Jehct wrote:
Isn't it a good thing if parents are calling after a bad grade? Regardless of their tone, your job is to convince them to help their child if he isn't studying at home, and to listen to what problems the kid thinks he has. There are very, very few jobs where you don't have to deal with angry people - and angry people will always seem like cunts.
Just because dealing with these parents is hard doesn't mean that it's bad, or not important. You should be happy it actually gives you a chance to help the kid.
It is a good thing that parents are concerned about the grades. It's not a good thing that certain parents blame the teacher for the grade. It would be much different if an entire class failed a test, for that shows a lack of understanding by the students and the teacher needs to adjust the teaching method. I enjoy working with a parent who wants to know what can be done to remedy the situation. It's the occasional parent that demands that I change their grade or let them retake the test that inspires me to write a post like this
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I think it really depends on the grade you're teaching. In primary/middle school, I would generally expect most of the children to be interested in school, at least that's how it was in my classes (if my memory serves correctly). But, in high school it changed drastically..after grade 8/9 most students were not that interested anymore and were more interested in the social interaction between their friends, and I was fortunate enough to get through school without having to study too much, but at least I can say that my education was heavily influenced by my teachers. My parents didn't force me to do anything and didn't put any pressure on my teachers if I would've gotten a bad grade, but for me, your approach seems weird...you say there only one way to provide solid motivation (grades), but from my point of view I have to disagree with you on this. If your classes are interesting and you try to include your students in them (interactive and shit), you can be surprised at how much they will learn. But I really thinks on the topic you're teaching..but still, from my personal experience, the more interesting the class, the better the outcome for the students.
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On February 29 2012 16:57 drsnuggles wrote:
I think it really depends on the grade you're teaching. In primary/middle school, I would generally expect most of the children to be interested in school, at least that's how it was in my classes (if my memory serves correctly). But, in high school it changed drastically..after grade 8/9 most students were not that interested anymore and were more interested in the social interaction between their friends, and I was fortunate enough to get through school without having to study too much, but at least I can say that my education was heavily influenced by my teachers. My parents didn't force me to do anything and didn't put any pressure on my teachers if I would've gotten a bad grade, but for me, your approach seems weird...you say there only one way to provide solid motivation (grades), but from my point of view I have to disagree with you on this. If your classes are interesting and you try to include your students in them (interactive and shit), you can be surprised at how much they will learn. But I really thinks on the topic you're teaching..but still, from my personal experience, the more interesting the class, the better the outcome for the students.
I do have the good fortune (or great foresight, depending on how you look at it) of teaching instrumental music. Participation is required in the class. And you explained exactly why I hate falling back on giving poor grades for poor participation. Some kids don't give a hoot about grades. I try to make it fun and interesting, but there are some things that kids have to do whether they want to or not, much like real life. There are things we have to do in class and we can't just play popular songs like Star Wars or pep band tunes all the time. Mostly I'm currently struggling with providing motivation that has nothing to do with grades, because I really don't know the kids. It's not my school and it's not my band, I am a guest in the room. And they know that I'm done at the beginning of may. God, even learning all the kids names is a challenge as I am working with over 300 of them right now.
This question is open to all because you all went through school and all had subjects that you liked or hated, the same goes for teachers. How would you motivate a kid who has no desire to learn what you are trying to teach? My personal philosophy is through positive relationships with the students. But some kids don't want to get to know me or my cooperating teacher because they don't want to be there at all! I don't know why some of those kids are in band, but they are and I have to do my job and try to teach them. There is probably no good answer, but I welcome all answers, except blatant trolls.
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On February 29 2012 16:49 KazeHydra wrote:Show nested quote +On February 29 2012 16:37 Jehct wrote:
Isn't it a good thing if parents are calling after a bad grade? Regardless of their tone, your job is to convince them to help their child if he isn't studying at home, and to listen to what problems the kid thinks he has. There are very, very few jobs where you don't have to deal with angry people - and angry people will always seem like cunts.
Just because dealing with these parents is hard doesn't mean that it's bad, or not important. You should be happy it actually gives you a chance to help the kid. This isn't about the tone of the parents but their beliefs. Most parents nowadays (well, in the U.S.) assume a stance that their kid can't possibly be doing anything wrong and absolutely deserve an A regardless of how much they know. There's hardly any room to help the kids (also, the kids don't even want help, which makes it worse) when the parents' complaints amount to "my kid doesn't need help in school. He is a genius and deserves an A. How dare you insinuate otherwise!" I have some pretty strong opinions about our educational system and parental attitudes regarding education that I don't really have to time to rant about but it does, for the most part, agree with OP.
True. Not their little angel! He wouldn't harm a fly! Reminds me of the Dursleys in Harry Potter...
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I agree with a lot of what the OP is saying. I'm a senior in high school and I'm grateful that my parents didn't bring me up this way. Sure, there would be times when I didn't perform up to expectations, but my parents tried to work with the teacher to target my weak points, both at home and at school. They never demanded a grade increase, only ask that the teacher tell them where I could improve.
Grades in general are starting to get inflated and I think this is a reason for more "helicopter parenting". Everyone thinks they deserve an A regardless of how much effort they put in or how well they do because everyone else has an A. At my international high school in China this is really prevalent. I know some kids who don't get As and then chalk it up to "teacher doesn't teach" or "I don't like his/her teaching style".
When parents are like this it really shows in the kid's behavior too. A lot of people from the older generation would probably say that this current generation of kids is "full of shit", but how much of that is faulty parenting?
Anyways, best of luck to the OP if he continues in teaching!
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On February 29 2012 17:09 MaximusT wrote:
I do have the good fortune (or great foresight, depending on how you look at it) of teaching instrumental music. Participation is required in the class. And you explained exactly why I hate falling back on giving poor grades for poor participation. Some kids don't give a hoot about grades. I try to make it fun and interesting, but there are some things that kids have to do whether they want to or not, much like real life. There are things we have to do in class and we can't just play popular songs like Star Wars or pep band tunes all the time. Mostly I'm currently struggling with providing motivation that has nothing to do with grades, because I really don't know the kids. It's not my school and it's not my band, I am a guest in the room. And they know that I'm done at the beginning of may. God, even learning all the kids names is a challenge as I am working with over 300 of them right now.
This question is open to all because you all went through school and all had subjects that you liked or hated, the same goes for teachers. How would you motivate a kid who has no desire to learn what you are trying to teach? My personal philosophy is through positive relationships with the students. But some kids don't want to get to know me or my cooperating teacher because they don't want to be there at all! I don't know why some of those kids are in band, but they are and I have to do my job and try to teach them. There is probably no good answer, but I welcome all answers, except blatant trolls.
I only had 'instrumental music' taught to me when I was 13/14. After that it would get much more theoretical and I dropped it. It was a compulsory subject, which nobody seemed to mind because we could just fuck around an hour instead of having to be quiet and listening to the teacher. Music was fun, we only got to play pep band tunes (as you call them) as far as I remember. Our teacher was an awesome person and we didn't really learn anything, I got an 8 or 9 (out of 10) at the end of the 2 years I believe.
The more I think about it, the more I don't understand. What could you possibly want to teach them that they wouldn't find fun? As you saw, I screwed around or two years learning virtually nothing (only that I like music and the guy that taught it).
With more boring subjects I can understand, but music? Must be very different than what I'm used to.
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Maybe I'll respect teachers more when teacher unions stop preventing bad teachers from being fired.
/reverse rant
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I worked as a tutor for English for three years and another thing I realized is that parents rather spend a lot of money on additional tutoring and classes instead of taking a few hours of their free time to teach their children how to learn properly OR (in case of younger students) to take a few hours every week, sit down with their kids and learn with them.
I've had my fair share of 5 graders who were sitting there, totally unmotivated and just wasted away my time and their parents money. Can I blame the kid? I don't think so. It's should've been part of his/her upbringing to learn how to learn.
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EPT
