Thursday, July 02, 2009

not my class but i want to kill someone

so, as some have gathered, i don't have a class currently @ one of my jobs, so i'm on a "vacation" for five weeks (this is week 3 of it). but, that doesn't mean i'm not working. i'm doing a bunch of sub work, mostly in what's called the student center. it's a computer lab where students can work on papers, get help with math & english work, etc. but, it's also used by classes for lab time.

due to this, i get to watch the interaction between instructors and their students. one particular instructor has a very different class management style than i do, and that's fine. but, some of his students treat him with such disrespect that i want to slap them. really. i've mostly bit my tongue, but today a particular student got the best of me.

he came to class an hour late, and then went to use the restroom. then, he basically sat and did nothing while he pretended to work. as the instructor explained an upcoming paper, he asked what double space was. is it pressing space twice after each word or each line?

i had enough. okay, i actually had enough when he came to class and then announced he was going to the restroom. i challenged him with, "really, you come to class late and then go to the restroom?" so when he asked about double space i asked him if he really didn't know. he said he didn't because he doesn't use windows. he uses mac. to which i explained that double space is pretty much the academic format for everyone, everywhere. windows, mac, doesn't matter.

so, instead of jumping up and trying to kill this fool, i'm blogging about it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh man... I applaud your restraint!!

have a great show tonight!

MsJoey said...

Props for even working with kids that age. I would strangle a kid with in the first week of teaching! I have no patience for teenagers most of the time. The lack of respect just gets under my skin!

Lulu said...

Good choice on the blogging rather than killing thing. Classroom management is a tough thing. I never had a big problem with it myself, but I would have pretty much said the same thing that you did to him.
It think it would be interesting to be able to watch other instructors, everyone has such different styles and methods. It would be a good learning experience.

Travis said...

I know the struggle of which you write. Great restraint, man.

edluv said...

today this kid is freakin sleepin in class.

i think i'll go wake him up.