Imperfect Interactions

So in my last two posts I may have seemed on top of this TF thing, so just to dispel any of those illusions, here is a post that details some of the less than perfect interactions I've had with students. I would say 90% of the time things go just fine when I try to help to students, so please don't take this post as me complaining. I just think these stories are interesting.

A number of students neglect to bring paper and pencil to class, so I often walk around handing out paper so they have something to take notes on. I walked up to one student and said, "Do you need any paper?" He blankly stared at me. I asked again, "Would you like some paper?" He continued to look right past me as if I wasn't even there. Getting a bit agitated, I asked, "Why are you ignoring me?" Still no response. Deciding that I need to chose my battles, I just left a piece of paper on his desk and walked off. In retrospect, I couldn't believe the nerve of that kid! I had never talked with him before, or even given him a disapproving look, so he had no reason to dislike me. Apparently, my being an authority figure is enough for him. Mind games...

Mr. Tuttle's 6th hour is often the craziest class. The students are understandably just itching to get out of their chairs after being forced to sit still all day. During a work period, one female student asked to go to the restroom and quietly said to Mr. Tuttle that is was an emergency. (On count day, students were not allowed to go use the restrooms during class, unless it was an emergency, in order to facilitate counting.) Another female student, saw her leave the classroom, and loudly asked, "Why does sheeee get to go the restroom!?" After having had a long day and being short on patience, I snapped, "Because it was an emergency!" She got a little miffed, but at the time I didn't care. Next week, I realized it'd be nice to apologize for barking at her, so during a free work period, I went over and started to say sorry. As I came over she saw me walk up, but she looked the other way, clearly distracted by something, and soon enough she got up to go check it out. I thought, ok, I'll try again later. About 5 minutes later, I started to say sorry again, but she was totally ignoring me and blatently looking the other way. Luckily this was apparent to a friend of hers, who was sitting right there, and said, "Hey, look at him, he's trying to say something to you." She then sheepishly looked at me, I apologized, and she murmured something unintelligible. She clearly felt uncomfortable about the situation. Weird! Perplexed, I later asked my wife, who is an elementary school teacher, what she thought. Her guess was maybe this girl just isn't used to adults saying sorry to her, so she felt awkward and didn't know how to respond.

In my previous post, I described how I try to approach students who don't seem to be working. It usually works, but there are times when it clearly doesn't. One student who sits in the back, is almost always messing around on her cell phone during work periods. She doesn't usually bother anyone, so I don't worry too much about it, but recently I went over to ask, "How's it comin?" She said, "Fine." I asked if I could help her with anything on her homework, and she said no. I pushed a little more, "Are you sure there is nothing you're confused about?" This was too much for her, so she responded, "No, and if there was, I wouldn't ask you. I don't know you." A little flustered, I said, "Well, ok then," and walked off.

Since these 3 situations, and a few other I have not described, I now pay more attention to these kids. I just tend to gravitate towards the tough cookies because they are more of a challenge. I ask each of them at least once every hour if they need help with anything. So far I've just gotten turned away, which is acceptable since they aren't bothering anyone else. My hope is that they will eventually get used to me, soften up, and let me give them a hand.