Ask my parents or my siblings about me as a kid and the same nickname will always come up. I am not proud of it and have fought hard my entire adult life to break from it….but its true. I AM a tyrant and I AM uptight! Although I despise these names and wish to see to them washed from my history I have also accepted them and realize they have played a key role in getting me to the place I am today. I AM uptight when it comes to my content, its structure, and the lessons I hope my students gain from the history of our past. I AM a tyrant to my students about proper dress and proper actions of my students while they are at school. For most people the personality I have built at St. John Vianney High School has become a positive influence on my students who may not have been challenged by a teacher like me. Despite the hard line I take with my students conduct and the rigidity at which I approach my content I do have a softer side as well, something I hope my students will see. That is why this year I am attempting a new approach with my students that looks to build a personal relationship with them and show them how I truly feel.
I have begun to do a little research on a concept that does not seem to fit with the high school environment I have trained to exist in - Thank you notes. That is right, messages of affirmation and thanks to those who are doing a good job. When I look at my students (all male sophomores who are outwardly growing into men who feel no pain) I really do not think of people who would expect and enjoy those tiny messages but when I thought about it more my big question was, what’s the worst that could happen?” The results of the first semester were significant. First, lets debunk a myth our students attempt to perpetuate. Our male students DO have feelings and DO CARE what you think so any little thing (positive or negative) that you say or do will have an impact even if it is not visible. Even adult men still desire and appreciate affirmation from colleagues and superiors. As a student teacher four years ago I received a note from a student (sophomore whose name was Claire) which said simply, “I think you are a really good teacher, please keep going!” A note that I still keep in my desk today. In my first month of my first year of full time teaching I received a note from my principal welcoming me and letting me know he hired me for a reason, because he believed in me. And then very recently (the reason for this post) I received an email from my current principal calling me his HERO. Each one of these notes I keep close to me for those days when the world seems to be crashing down. So if a full grown man can be impacted by a simple note why can't a high school student? I had some amazing results when I tried this out last semester. In all I wrote probably 25 notes during the semester each to a different student. They related to recent work the student had done that really impressed me or a certain action I witnessed that I wanted to further encourage. From those notes I got back several emails from students thanking me for the kind words, I got a story from a parent who put the note on their fridge and a mom who gave me a hug in appreciation. One mom who spoke to another teacher stated that it made her son cry because it was so nice. She said, “no one had ever said anything nice about him like that before...it meant a lot.” It crushed me to think that no other teacher had ever said anything that nice to him...EVER? Now I really do not know what I wrote in each note or what circumstances drove me to select THAT student THAT day but those students may keep those notes for years or at least their week is a little bit better because of a note that took me 5 minutes to write. It is important to show our students that we are human and to remember that they themselves are also human. Despite the fact that many of them are developing personalities that hide their true feelings under layers of hardened mass it is important to recognize their humanity and through that reach them on a deeper level that maybe later we can use to educate.
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Brandon Lewis
2/26/2015 02:24:33 am
Brandon,
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Brandon LewisMy name is Brandon Lewis and I am a high school history teacher in St. Louis Missouri. I practice the art of teaching at St. John Vianney High School. Archives
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