I was in the faulty room when all of a sudden a teacher storms in. This particular teacher happens to teach English right next door to the room that I observe in. She comes in swearing and obviously upset. Her friend (the teacher I am observing) asks her what is wrong. She says:
“My students are doing speeches and the other day one of the girls spoke on how she has been ‘saved.’”
This is an English 11 Honors class, and the teacher figured that the students would be able to handle controversial topics.
Well, she was wrong.
After (and I assume during the girls speech) two boys were really upset. One boy believes in God, the other one couldn’t understand why/how someone could believe in God. The debate got really heated and the teacher felt that she “handled” the situation well. She explained how everyone was in titled to their own opinion and that the point of the speeches was to inform different view points—not enforce a view point.
Well, the student’s decided to take matters into their own hands and got into a fight in the hall way later on.
What made the teacher upset was the fact that one of the parents emailed her, condemning her for allowing the girl to speak about a “religious topic.” In reaction, the teacher decided to cancel all the student presentations and give them the “unit from hell.”
I tried to give her my advice on the situation, but she didn’t want to hear it. She couldn’t separate the parents’ reaction from her students. Instead of sitting down with the parent, she took her frustration out on the students.
I would have handled the situation very differently. Not only was the outcome of the one speech unfortunate for the teacher, it was also unfortunate for the students. They worked hard and long on their speeches and never got to present them. I would have discussed what happened with the class and asked them to write a paper on why it is important to respect opinions and diversity. I would then give them historical situations where opinions and differences were not respected. I would NOT have cancelled the other speeches.
I don’t understand why people get so uptight about religion. I am a very religious person and I do not take offense to other view points. I recognize them as such: just differences of opinion.
“My students are doing speeches and the other day one of the girls spoke on how she has been ‘saved.’”
This is an English 11 Honors class, and the teacher figured that the students would be able to handle controversial topics.
Well, she was wrong.
After (and I assume during the girls speech) two boys were really upset. One boy believes in God, the other one couldn’t understand why/how someone could believe in God. The debate got really heated and the teacher felt that she “handled” the situation well. She explained how everyone was in titled to their own opinion and that the point of the speeches was to inform different view points—not enforce a view point.
Well, the student’s decided to take matters into their own hands and got into a fight in the hall way later on.
What made the teacher upset was the fact that one of the parents emailed her, condemning her for allowing the girl to speak about a “religious topic.” In reaction, the teacher decided to cancel all the student presentations and give them the “unit from hell.”
I tried to give her my advice on the situation, but she didn’t want to hear it. She couldn’t separate the parents’ reaction from her students. Instead of sitting down with the parent, she took her frustration out on the students.
I would have handled the situation very differently. Not only was the outcome of the one speech unfortunate for the teacher, it was also unfortunate for the students. They worked hard and long on their speeches and never got to present them. I would have discussed what happened with the class and asked them to write a paper on why it is important to respect opinions and diversity. I would then give them historical situations where opinions and differences were not respected. I would NOT have cancelled the other speeches.
I don’t understand why people get so uptight about religion. I am a very religious person and I do not take offense to other view points. I recognize them as such: just differences of opinion.
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