Many of you know that I am an aspiring jeweller/actor/designer/writer/Queen of the Universe and the ‘aspiring’ part of that title requires me to have an actual job where I earn actual money. This job is teaching kids with special needs and I kind of freaking love it.
I’m a relief teacher so I tend to do the rounds of my local area and I was at a school today that just happened to have an auditor there. He works for the government and it’s his job to observe teachers and to keep them in line so to speak. This guy was a total knob. Technically, he was observing another teacher but he clearly thought it was way more fun to annoy me than to actually do his job. I said ‘Good boy!’ to a kid who did something good and apparently you don’t say that. Because you are rewarding the student and not the behaviour. Or something. What? Since when is a term like ‘Good boy!’ detrimental to the development of a child? Special needs or otherwise? I also pretended to be confused like one of my students when he was distressed that he couldn’t complete a task and apparently that’s babying him. It just got worse and worse until I said ‘Well done mate!’ and copped the wrath of why you can’t say that to a child with special needs. Because I’m not his mate, I’m his teacher and by calling him ‘mate’ I’m confusing the boundaries between teacher and student.
Dude. GET A GRIP! I’m an educated, intelligent, responsible adult who is well aware of my responsibilities as a teacher. I’ve attended the seminars, signed the forms and done the training. I’m not a kiddy fiddler. I’m also not a robot… and neither are my students. I will not be told that I cannot use terms of endearment with my students, I will not be told that I cannot give a student a congratulatory pat on the back or a sympathetic squeeze on the arm and I will not be told that these behaviours ‘confuse’ my students. I know how to draw the line if a student touches me inappropriately or for too long and I also know how to address these issues with my students without embarrassing them or making them feel awkward. I refuse to have a sterile, unfriendly environment in my classroom where my students feel that I am a stranger. I want them to know that my interest in them runs deeper than a paycheck.
I also resent being told that ‘as a woman’ it is far more difficult for me to make these boundaries because my ‘maternal instinct kicks in’. Oh wow, I seriously just got really angry reading that back. If you want to pick on someone pick on the teacher that’s reading a magazine while his degenerative/vegetative student is sucking on a toxic marker. Also, FYI, my students will ‘not lose respect for me’ if I jump on the trampoline. Go annoy someone else, little man, I’m good at my job.
What about you pie face? Any rants to share? Or an opinion on an a-hole manager? Or a discussion about how ridiculous the world has become when a teacher is told they can’t call a student ‘mate’?
Love Lady Smaggle
xxx