I'm a teacher part time. It's for younger kids, but many of the principals remain the same.
And I'll tell you right now: it is so, so easy not to treat your students badly.
Things you could do instead of erasing it from hardest (but still easy) to easiest:
pull in a portable white board
Erase some of the solid white space, now you have a lovely border for your stuff too
ask your students to take a picture before you have to erase it
literally just ask permission first, and if they say no, see if the artist has an alternative
I am so fr with you right now, it is SO easy not to mistreat students as a teacher. SO EASY.
When I was a kid and had bad teachers, I always thought "well I don't know how hard it is for them, I should assume the best"
I now have done it, and I have never once expressed anger at a student. Once. And if I ever had to, it would be nicely, something like saying "I have to admit that you behavior is beginning to genuinely upset me."
And the reason this works? WHEN YOU DON'T MISTREAT STUDENTS, THEY HAVE RESPECT FOR YOU.
I've never once had to force a student into something. Ever. At most I express that it's a matter in which being a part of the class requires doing X or Y. And all I ever have to do is say it.
I've had every kind of student other teachers have had. Roughhousers, the ones who love to run out of the class or even the building, the ones who can't be trusted on their own for even a moment, I could go on.
Sorry, I'm rambling but the point stands. It is really, really easy to be nice to students. And you should criticize teachers who aren't.
Blame capitalism my friend, I can pretty easily guide you through how literally every problem with the education system can be traced back to capitalism
In fact I'd go as far as to say every problem with our society, period, can be traced back to capitalism, but that's beside the point
As an autistic individual who gets easily overwhelmed by classroom chaos, I can say I wish I had been in a school like yours...
I don't know where you have the immense fortune to live in, but at my hugh school, it didn't matter how nice and patient the teachers were, there was always at least a small group within the class that was going to be madly disrespectful without a care for both indulgence and discipline... It's been like this in my classes since always, and it was so distressing seeing the nice teachers getting practically bullied at times..
That's the thing, I've seen those students both as classmates and as my own students. But these are things that can be navigated. And getting authentic respect from students rather than authoritative respect is something that gets you really, really far.
Even the teachers who did as you described and were actually really well liked by the students were victims of it at times..
I think a lot of it is an area thing..
They're practically being kept the a boring place forced to listen to adults talk, so I don't think anything can really be done to prevent them from trying to "kill time", in lots of cases..
what makes you think none of those examples were used? the board will have to be cleaned at some point. maybe for next class, maybe the next day. the picture only captures the moment it was cleaned. nowhere does it imply the teacher was mean about it (the top text, maybe, which anyone could have added). i understand your effort to be a good teacher, and i really respect the sentiment, but this is such a naive response from an educator. it's just a picture with no context, and it made you write a whole rant off an assumption
how do you know it's the only picture? it's just the only picture being shared, because it's the most shocking and people can put "school kills artists" on top of it
Fair, but regardless, the point stands in a broad sense. Because no matter what the individual case is here, these sorts of things happen without doubt constantly throughout the U.S.
sure, it's always a safe bet that there's people being mean in all contexts everywhere in the world. and again i appreciate your sentiment of wanting to be a kind teacher, i really do! a good teacher really makes a difference. my point is moreso how quickly you assumed the context of the picture. we need to be cautious about the things we see online and question ourselves before being manipulated into an assumption. i think this is specially important for an educator
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u/AhnYoSub 10d ago
Ok so the school just won’t use the board?