Black Roots
I am commenting on an this article about a teacher that was suspended because of a blog posting where she went on a rant about her students. This case is still working its way through the court systems to determine whether this teacher's constitutional right to free speech was violated. Whether she has the right to print the things that she did about her students is not what I am going to write about today. I also do not want to debate (surprisingly) whether she should of posted her rant for all the world to see. I want to go much further back than that. I know that we all get really frustrated sometimes and feel like letting off a little steam. Teachers have been doing this in the teacher's lounge for years. So what is the difference? Sure, when a teacher rants on a blog, more people than are in an ear-shots distance know about it. What I am contending is that they are both equally wrong. Both methods of letting off steam are counter productive and unprofessional. Reacting to a students behavior with anger or spite, only perpetuate the problem. A teacher that acts in this manner is not focused on the child's needs and has shut out any hope of reaching that child. The teacher is demonstrating a complete lack of professional disposition. The belief that the negative statements made by that teacher stays in the lounge is completely false. Even if the other teachers present never utter a single word to another soul, the black roots have already begun to spread. In that lounge might be a teacher that will have that student in a classroom down the road. That teacher's mind might become prejudiced and closed to any possibilities long before that student enters their classroom. Maybe another teacher has a sibling of the student being discussed. That might also negatively effect the siblings. Perhaps there is a student teacher in the lounge. The veteran teacher is modeling behaviors that this new teacher might adopt. This new teacher might immediately give up on a difficult student because they think that it is just no use. Cutting out these black roots in the mind before they take hold is where it all begins. Before a person utters such destructive words, they have cultivated those things in their mind. As teachers, we also need to monitor the thoughts that we entertain in our heads. We need to realize what we are watering and fertilizing within the fertile fields of our brains. We are human and negative thoughts will creep n from time to time. But it is up to us to make a conscious decision to block these things out before they take over.
Interesting perspective. I especially appreciated your comments about how these thoughts had to be cultivated before they could be said.
ReplyDelete