Mean girls

It's interesting to be in a class full of teachers, or rather, pre-service teachers as they would like to call us ("they"meaning the institution). Most of us are pretty young. I would say that about 95% of the people in the secondary program are between the ages of 22 and 26. That fact probably accounts for the attitudes that some people choose to display, which as of late have started to annoy me. Some of my classes are like some of the classes I taught during my practicum. It's terribly ironic and hypocritical! There are the "too cool for school" students who make loud comments during class and snide remarks about the teacher behind his/her back, the super shy types who never speak up unless spoken to, and even then it's a stretch, the keeners who ask question after question only to contradict the answers given in order to (and this is probably a judgment, but perhaps a true one) boast how much they indeed know about the answer to the question they had originally posed, the supersmart people who just excel by nature (i hate those ones ;p), and the rest who just do their own thing uncategorized. It's amazing how often we contradict our own beliefs about education and good teaching when we're the student. We all hate students who segregate themselves, create cliques, talk out of turn, disrupt other students' learning, question everything, hate group work, are slackers, create 'drama', and yet, we act just like them! By "we" I mean the pre-service teachers in my program...not myself, of course ;P

Perhaps it's also a personality thing, but c'mon now. As teachers, there should be some effort put towards change!

Case Study 1:

To illustrate my point, I was recently involved in a group presentation for one of my classes. It was a group that I didn't expect to find myself in, seeing as we were given the liberty to choose our group members. However, one of my friends whom I met at the start of the course (turns out we worked at Summer Camps together 2 years ago although we didn't really know each other), agreed at that time (probably because she didn't see anyone she knew in the class when she sat beside me) to be in a group with me (I had to have some security for myself!). Well, it turns out that she was really good friends with the "cool" group of students who I didn't know and didn't care to know. When it came to presentation work time we had already agreed to work together so by default, I joined their group. It was an interesting experience being the odd one out in a group of people who knew each other well and were comfortable (I was basically non-existent except that I had my computer and typed everything up). It was also interesting to see the dynamics of group work play out where one person essentially dictated everything we were to do. I was too intimidated to speak very much (this is the classic disadvantage of group work). At the end, the presentation went fine. I mustered up the courage to email the group suggesting that we delegate facilitation tasks so that each of us would be "heard" during the presentation. No one emailed me back but I got my two cents in which is what matters ;P Now that the presentation is over, everything is back to "normal." They don't talk to or acknowledge me and I don't either. Case closed.

I like to think of myself as a likeable and sociable person. I've definitely come out of hiding since my undergrad years, although I'm not one of those students in the limelight, so to speak. I've probably made more friends in this program than I did my whole four years of undergrad! But, I guess some things are destined to remain as they are. That's cool with me. I tested the waters and found it incredibly salty but went for a swim anyway. Educationally, the most important lesson I learned was to ensure that I foster an inclusive classroom and structure for group work. That doesn't mean that people have to like each other (although this would be nice). It just means that they have to see the value of each person's ideas in addition to their own. Personally (and perhaps educationally as well), the most important lesson I learned was that the hot girls are often the mean girls. Hahaha.