Start with trying too hard.
It is my experience that students are often like feral cats. They are used to doing things their own way and independently, so when you try to cage them into a way of thinking, acting, and working that is foreign to them the result is often catastrophic. Establishing simple, easy to follow rules and developing a rapport is the teaching equivalent of leaving that bowl of milk out in front of the door every night. They’ll come around and start to appreciate what you’re serving up.
Of course, things can be complicated if it was never your class to begin with. Following that (soon to be convoluted) metaphor of the milk, the cat also gets used to the owner of the bowl and learns to expect that person. When you are not that person–say when someone else is suddenly there and the person you’ve come accustomed to expecting is not–then it restarts that long trust courtship. If you truly seek failure you ought to also appear as infrequently and on a irregular schedule as possible. Show up 10 minutes early one day, on time the next two, late one day, and not at all a couple of times. See what happens then.
All of this is reflective of my true experience this semester. I came in with the highest of hopes and life decided to kick me in the balls. Between divorce, sick and misbehaving kids, traffic accidents, and a slew of unexpected (and unintended) responsibilities I’ve been a shadow of the person I intended to be. I’ll slog through, of course. I am nothing if not a fighter. However, this represents a missed opportunity that could have lasting damage both in terms of reputation and more than a few relationships.
Every action has consequences.
Some Thoughts:
- I’m still in the ‘slogging through’ phase of things, though I am at the point where I can glimpse that light somewhere far down the tunnel. Things are less than perfect, but that is nothing new. What is new is the excitement I feel when I think about how much I am learning from all of this and how the woes of the semester will, eventually, settle on me in a way that hardens me into a better person.
- Wrestling is still simple and juvenile and poorly scripted. I’ve been watching with the boys and see echoes of McMahon’s early 80’s wrestling plot lines and clearly drawn good vs. Evil facades.
- The eldest started tackle football. More on that this waiver wednesday…