As you navigate through the rest of your life, be open to collaboration. Other people and other people's ideas are often better than your own. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.
- Amy Poehler
Part 3: Inspire
Eighth graders, as with other middle schoolers, are in a difficult transition period. We did not get along most of the time. They were transitioning into full-fledged teenagers and it was not cool to like school. They rarely admitted to liking a lesson, and were prone to frequent complaints. Yet they could be so sweet and so kind. They may have hated filling out worksheets, but they jumped at the chance to pass out notebooks or clean off the board. Their constant struggle against productivity and learning in my classroom convinced me that they lacked favorable opinions of me, my teaching style, and my subject. It was with great reluctance and anxiety that I administered a survey on inspiration in mid-February.
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Is Ms. Lindsay Inspiring?
Survey Says...
Student A:
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Yes, Ms. Lindsay has inspired me because she teaches me and tells me what to prepare for so forth in life.
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Inspired me: She goes beyond and above when teaching. She always tends to help when needed. She teaches us some topics that would benefit through time.
Student B:
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Ms. Lindsay [has] inspired me. She also inspired me everyday to do work and to be smart.
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She also inspired me a lot of ways like to read, to write, and [have] faith in myself and when need[ed] she helps them understand it.
Student C:
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Yes because the things she teaching us new ways to do notes and new ways to do things.
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She has inspired [me] to write more essays. At first essays used to be so boring [a] couple of years ago. But when I got into 8th grade, she picked topics that are interesting and she [taught] me how to do essays way better. She [has taught] me to write a lot and I like writing most of the time.
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Student D:
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Not really. Her teaching style is kinda too fast paced and it is also confusing a bit.
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She has inspired me by getting better at writing. Which is something that I always wanted to be.
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Student E:
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Yes, because she’s always serious about her work and the work that she teaches us.
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Ms. Lindsay inspires me to be more serious with my work. If I do something, I should give my all.
Student F:
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Yes, because she [has] to put up with so many disrespectful children 5 days a week. I don’t see how she does it. It inspires me to consider being a teacher in the future.
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The slides she puts on the projector when we take notes is cool. She’s just a nice person.
Student G:
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Yes, Ms. Lindsay’s class has inspired me because it makes thinking critical fun.
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She has inspired me because the way she teaches makes everything so visible and easier to learn and comprehend.
Student H:
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Yes she has inspired me because when I didn’t want to do my work, she would come over to my desk and she would say that she knows I can do it and that I just have to force myself to do it. When I don’t want to do my work, she encourages me to do the work.
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When I am mad, she talks to me and tells me that everything’s not gonna go my way.
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Turns out, I worried for nothing. Students didn’t frequently verbalize their appreciation – c’mon, complaints are the foundation of school buildings - but many of them saw you coming into work and trying everyday. Although I didn’t feel I made a huge difference in their day-to-day lives, especially amidst the classroom strife, any teacher’s presence impacts the classroom. I’m happy to know that mine was mostly positive.
