This post was written a few years ago (on another site of mine), it’s about a documentary series. However, the subject still remains relevant so I’d like to share it.
I have been watching a show called Testing Teachers. It’s a reality show about a few apprentice teachers being put into schools where the young students are not necessarily easy to teach, the so-called troubled communities. In the show, the teachers really got tested and at times many of them would break down into tears. Many of the scenes reminded me of high school, sometimes young kids would just rebel against anything and everything.
Kids can be difficult to manage. Uncooperative, rude and rebellious in some cases. How do you deal with that? I know, people of all ages can also be difficult but kids tend to have a very direct way of dealing with things, they are not afraid to say it in your face if they are not happy with something. I do sympathise with the teachers in the show. Sometimes you just can’t reason with the students and they will make sure they give you a hard time.
I think in a way the classroom is like work, like politics, and like life in general. We all face opposition, all kinds of opposition, all the time. Sometimes we just need to face them head-on. But this is not the only thing we need to do. We need to also have faith and belief that we can change things. It’s good to know that in the documentary the teachers had all made significant progress after lots of fails and trials and errors. They’ve all showed persistence. Their efforts have paid off in the end.
Sometimes the best we can do is simply be there and keep at it. We should keep on believing no matter how difficult things seem. Eventually time will reward us with results. They might not be the exact results we expect but they will still taste sweet nevertheless.