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eftychia: Me in kilt and poofy shirt, facing away, playing acoustic guitar behind head (Default)
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QotD

posted by [personal profile] eftychia at 08:52am on 2004-02-18

"There is a rush to teaching, a kick, addictive as any drug." -- [livejournal.com profile] axiomaxiom, 2003-11-17, at the end of a story everyone should read. Thanks to [livejournal.com profile] juuro, who pointed it out in another entry worth reading

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There are 9 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
 

(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] griffen.livejournal.com at 07:45am on 2004-02-18
Thank you for that. My life is richer because you pointed it out.
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] butterfluff.livejournal.com at 07:49am on 2004-02-18
Is that my excuse? I thought I was just a know-it-all show-off.
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] juuro.livejournal.com at 08:33am on 2004-02-18
Oh, much of the rush, at least for me, is showing to an auditorium full of people that, at least on this particular issue, I'm better than them. ;)
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The PA meter

posted by [identity profile] axiomaxiom.livejournal.com at 06:52pm on 2004-03-20
That day when I went back to my dorm and told my college friends what happened, they laughed and called me a pompous ass. One said, "On the pompous ass meter, that's a 10!"

The PA meter was born. I regularly pin it.

Axiom
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Teaching

posted by [identity profile] blumindy.livejournal.com at 01:13pm on 2004-02-18
Here I am, doing my student-teaching. I have 8th grade science in a school with a poor, mostly minority population. It's fairly different from teaching college in ways I'm sure we all understand.

For me, teaching means getting lost....lost in the material, the students...losing my introverted self-consciousness and trying to get SOME of them to see what I see when I look at things through the lenses of science.
Most don't care much. Many are already 14 or 15 years old and plan to drop-out on their 16th birthday. That doesn't really discourage me. I know I'm reaching some and that's enough for me. Just don't point out to me that I'm up in front of a group of people....lol!
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siderea: (Default)

(no subject)

posted by [personal profile] siderea at 02:16pm on 2004-02-18
I expect I'm the only one whose heart wasn't warmed by that story.

I completely agree that it is a rush, and as addictive as any drug. But I, personally, continue the metaphor -- my experience on both sides of the desk has led me to observe that it is as destructive of self and others as any other addiction.

That sort of behavior is a non-consensual, non-negotiated power-trip scene, and in my book that makes it not OK.
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The Dark Side

posted by [identity profile] axiomaxiom.livejournal.com at 06:55pm on 2004-03-20
You're not wrong, Siderea. It is a rush, and rushes often do more for the damaged ego than for the purported beneficiaries. I encountered the darker side of that "power trip" (the perfect description) when I got to graduate school. I've tried to rope it in when I was a teacher myself, and I learned to recognize when the authority of teaching crossed the line into despotism. It was frightening to see full professors who hadn't learned that limit, or who gleefully exceeded it. When your students are weeping with frustration, it is YOU, the teacher, who is wrong.

Was it a power trip for me that day in English 143? Heck yeah. It's one reason why undergrads and other 18 year olds should not be teaching without observation. Still, it was a heck of a memory for me.

Axiom
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Thanks for the pointer!

posted by [identity profile] axiomaxiom.livejournal.com at 06:50pm on 2004-03-20
Nice to meet you, Dglenn, and thanks for steering folks towards this LJ entry. I got many wonderful comments--I'm only sorry I didn't get back to them until now, a month later. I really ought to track my LJ better.

I'm going to plumb the depths of your LJ now. A lot of interesting folks read you, the best praise.

Thanks again!

Axiom
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Re: Thanks for the pointer!

posted by [identity profile] dglenn.livejournal.com at 10:37am on 2004-03-21
And thank you for writing something so worth pointing to. You did the hard work.

I'm more than a mont behind on replying to some comments myself. At some point when I don't have "ohmygodthishastobedonelastweek" stuff in front of me, I'll devote a day to just catching up on comments.

As for my own journal, I have my good weeks and my lame weeks. Enjoy.
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