I just have one question about college classes in elementary ed majoring…Why do the teachers have to act like we’re all effing gay? Seriously, all the activities they make the men do are so ridiculously gay it’s not even funny. Pretty soon I’m sure they’re gona make me dress up as peter pan and go prancing around the campus to prove a point or something. Most of the guys, which are few, in my classes, are gay, however. It still doesn’t make it right, what if you want to teach in a stern/firm/but fun manner? No I’m not whining about low pay, it’s not like I’m gona be doing anything with my life anyways besides exercising and sitting on my ass doing nothing, so I’m prepared to do shit and have shit. I’m just simply wondering why they have to make everything so gay oriented. I almost feel left out in classes now due to how gay they’re making them cuz I’m straight!
Is this a last ditch effort in a struggle to not be assimilated?
It may be some kind of alternative lifethtyle then-tha-tivity thing, or maybe it is just plain old gay.
Ask the teacher.
You’re going to make a fabulous teacher someday!!!
[quote]halfpintdd wrote:
You’re going to make a fabulous teacher someday!!! [/quote]
yep, cuz i don’t give a crap about myself.
Ok, let’s think about this…ELEMENTARY ED…they’re kids. How stern are you going to have to be? These kids are in K-6th grade. They’re not joining the Marines here.
Granted, I don’t know what type of activities you’re talking about, and I’m not saying you should be a pussy, but with younger kids you have to dumb it down (you have to dumb it down with me too) and teach to their level which could be Peter Pan or “Barney the Fucking Dinosaur”.
In my Bio101 class we had to like act out the activites in cells and other bullshit, and it seemed dumb and “gay” but you know what? I actually LEARNED from it.
Anyway, if you don’t like their methods, don’t use them. Get anouther Prof. or change majors.
Good luck.
DD
Teaching is a great profession, but the amount of other BS, the bureaucracy, the regs, the paperwork, is enormous. If your patience is being tried now, just wait.
Maybe, double major in accounting?
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Maybe, double major in accounting?[/quote]
Or interior decoration and hairdressing?
I remember some of the silly projects we had to do.
However, you are one of the few straight guys in a major dominated by women. Go with the flow and be laid again and again. You have that perfect opportunity to mix manliness with sensitivity in order to make panties drop.
[quote]Headhunter wrote:
Teaching is a great profession, but the amount of other BS, the bureaucracy, the regs, the paperwork, is enormous. If your patience is being tried now, just wait.
Maybe, double major in accounting?[/quote]
Nah, it’s not testing my patience, I have plenty of that. I completely understand the loving cute concepts they’re trying to display, but come on, we don’t have to make everything seems like a magical fantasyland, we could try and mimmick reality for a few classes at least.
I can empathize.
I’m getting my master’s in education right now and the touchy-feely bullshit is getting to me.
During my “Behavioral Disorders” class, it as all I could do to keep from asking the teacher, “Now, are we talking about actual mentally retarded children, or kids that are fuckin’ retards?”
Why do you expect to be treated as if you are straight when you are in an area you say most of the guys are gay?
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Why do you expect to be treated as if you are straight when you are in an area you say most of the guys are gay?[/quote]
because whenever a gay or woman is in the minority, they often sympathize towards that and make them feel included…not make them slaughter animals and lift weights.
[quote]relativelyfunguy wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
Teaching is a great profession, but the amount of other BS, the bureaucracy, the regs, the paperwork, is enormous. If your patience is being tried now, just wait.
Maybe, double major in accounting?
Nah, it’s not testing my patience, I have plenty of that. I completely understand the loving cute concepts they’re trying to display, but come on, we don’t have to make everything seems like a magical fantasyland, we could try and mimmick reality for a few classes at least.[/quote]
What’s worse, you’ll discover, is that on your first day, everything you had to do, every hoop you jumped through, was just absolute and total crap.
On my very first day, before I even uttered one word, a boy (about age 15) looked up at me and said, “I really hate you. I mean, I really and truly hate you.” Now, of course, I’d say: “Well then, you need a beating. I’ll call your daddy, tell him what you said, and he can wail away on your sorry little ass with a big paddle.” Back then, I was just dumbfounded.
From one straight male teacher to another, if you don’t like being really animated and goofy and stuff, pick a different age group. Kids at the K-6 level really respond to lots of energy and weird stuff. If you want a more hardcore academic environment, get private school experience and work in a high-end private high school.
Way more serious, way more intense academically, and way more room for a stern, smart, and fun straight male teacher. That’s where I work. The kids would never dream of acting like the little punk in Headhunter’s class, and you wouldn’t have to act in a way that doesn’t come naturally to you.
[quote]InCorporeSano wrote:
From one straight male teacher to another, if you don’t like being really animated and goofy and stuff, pick a different age group. Kids at the K-6 level really respond to lots of energy and weird stuff. If you want a more hardcore academic environment, get private school experience and work in a high-end private high school.
Way more serious, way more intense academically, and way more room for a stern, smart, and fun straight male teacher. That’s where I work. The kids would never dream of acting like the little punk in Headhunter’s class, and you wouldn’t have to act in a way that doesn’t come naturally to you.
[/quote]
I’ve taught everything from 4th through 8th. The little kids NEED straight male teachers. They will respond to you even if you aren’t animated. Your “maleness” gives you a novelty and respect that female teachers don’t get.
Buy THE FIRST DAYS OF SCHOOL, forget most of what you’re learning in education classes, and you’ll do fine.
My ed classes so far have been pretty boring, with a few exceptions. Sounds like you’re stuck with silly teachers but maybe it will turn out for the best. Silly is probably better than boring.
Good luck in your career.
HH, Doogie, my year begins on Wed and I’m nervous as all heck.
[quote]doogie wrote:
Buy THE FIRST DAYS OF SCHOOL, forget most of what you’re learning in education classes, and you’ll do fine.
[/quote]
Harry Wong’s book is indeed worth getting. I’ve used his methods to great success and just started off a new school year smoothly this past week with his class management system. So far class management has been a breeze and the kids are getting the routine down, which is really quite nice.
My comment was not meant to suggest that straight males are only meant for the older grades. It’s important to find what age group fits best with the skills, strengths, and personality of a particular teacher.
Sounds the same as teaching in college. They try to make us ask the students where they’re from the first day and stupid shit like “tell us all something memorable about yourself.” As if their stories about broken arms in junior high had anything to do with their getting an education in college.
And the people who run the program want to go even further in that direction–make everything about students’ writing about their experiences and feelings, and nothing about students’ actually learning anything. It’s gotten fucking ridiculous.
I’m getting my PhD from a nationally renowned department, and I’m actually thinking about getting a job teaching at a private high school. Because there’s very little education happening in colleges right now.
[quote]Captain Glanton wrote:
Sounds the same as teaching in college. They try to make us ask the students where they’re from the first day and stupid shit like “tell us all something memorable about yourself.” As if their stories about broken arms in junior high had anything to do with their getting an education in college.
And the people who run the program want to go even further in that direction–make everything about students’ writing about their experiences and feelings, and nothing about students’ actually learning anything. It’s gotten fucking ridiculous.
I’m getting my PhD from a nationally renowned department, and I’m actually thinking about getting a job teaching at a private high school. Because there’s very little education happening in colleges right now.[/quote]
It’s too bad this is too true. My brother graduated from college with a degree in business, and is now making 80-120k a year, and soon enough will probably be making above 200k a year and maybe over 300k a year. I asked him how college was for him, and he said he cheated on everything except for his senior year of college, cuz he decided it was time to get a little bit more serious then. Of course he got all A’s the whole way through except for maybe one B after a teacher found out he cheated, lol, but he said that he hasn’t used a single thing from college in his current job, it’s just about talking skills and such now.
Seems pretty much the same thing in my situation, as while I can’t say I have had all A’s or even all A’s and B’s, I can say that after 2 years in college there are very few things I have actually held on to and felt like I’d be using it in my classroom. I mean, the things like positive and negative reinforcement all sound nice, but how are you gona stand there and decide which one it is when you have a class going crazy and a trouble maker starting it all? Gona honestly stand there and say “hmm, well little billy is obviously displaying signs of this, so that means i must do this.”
[quote]relativelyfunguy wrote:
…there are very few things I have actually held on to and felt like I’d be using it in my classroom. I mean, the things like positive and negative reinforcement all sound nice, but how are you gona stand there and decide which one it is when you have a class going crazy and a trouble maker starting it all?[/quote]
Look-- teaching is not formulaic. It doesn’t happen that you stand there and think this stuff through. First of all, you don’t have time. Teaching is incredibly fast-paced. Those decisions come instantly and organically to good teachers-- you just know what the situation calls for and you execute. It’s sort of like an orchestra where you are the conductor; your job is not to figure out whether to positively or negatively reinforce behavior, it’s to make each student’s presence and contribution worthwhile for their own learning and for the class as a whole. When you are truly in command, it almost looks as if the class runs itself.
Another way to think of it is that the kids do the work and you encourage, support, and give them the requisite tools. Then you back off and let them show you what they have done.
Have you done any observation of teachers in class? If not, do it soon. If you have, did you think their methods looked formulaic? If so, observe in a better school.