As a new TA, I felt like one of the most terrifying things an instructor could encounter would be misspeaking--terrifying internally that is, obviously there are some more prominent external threats. In a world full of Freudian-slips, it seems nearly impossible not to misspeak. So when one says, "slip your dick in," instead of, "slip your disk in," what happens? Besides the obvious silence. And how do you maintain authority? I for one would struggle keeping my composure--because let's face it, it's a funny slip up. Wheeler states, in her comment, that she finally laughed and the "pressure was off," but not only that, "the incident became kind of a bond between" the instructor and the students. I think it is important to know when keeping composure would be more beneficial than detrimental. It could have simply been a story that the students told their friends, "Yeah, my English teacher totally said, 'slip the dick in,' today in class. She just stood there in silence like a goon." Either way it would live on through stories, but sharing that moment with students seems to have been important to this instructor. It made a teachable moment.
So, should we be afraid of misspeaking? No. We say things wrong sometimes. So what? I think acknowledging the mistake makes us more human. The authority still maintains even with a slip-up.
Humor has always been a way that my classes have bonded or broken the ice. The first first semester teaching I was a little stiff and still trying to figure out how to negotiate my authority in the classroom. I think that was affecting class discussion because I could never seem to get my students to talk much. During a memoir lesson they were struggling to use descriptive imagery, so I had them do an activity where one student describes something and the rest of the class guesses what it is. One student was clearly describing a barn, but most of the class grew up in the city, so they weren't getting it. That's when one kid shouted, "It's a canoe!" I lost it at the front of the class and it took me several minutes to stop laughing, but after that everybody seemed much more relaxed during class discussion.
ReplyDeleteI think a moment of awkwardness, be it through misconceptions or people misspeaking, can help the relationship between the instructor and student (as well as just between students) throught the semester. My students this semester told me in our initial meeting that I was intimidating. We discussed their perceptions immediately and I made sure to try to lighten the mood as best I could. This Tuesday, at our peer review workshop, the female student who had the courage to tell me the class thought I was intimidating said, "Ms. Buck, you're the bomb." The guy sitting next to her reminded her that she said I was intimidating initially. She replied with, "Well, bombs are intimidating." It was a giggly moment for the class that was a direct result from a misconception.
ReplyDeleteSure! I had a similar experience. One time, in the middle of class, student who set right after a podium, gave me a memo(?). It said 'Man's door opened'. So I thought Man's room door opened. But in second thought, I check my pants' zip out. Yes..... It did not closed enough. I think most students in the class already knew it. Embarrassed. But I shared my misunderstanding to all class instead of stocking the happening in my head. I said 'Thank you for your kindness, but I almost go and check the mans' room door out.' Then all of class had big laugh.......
ReplyDeleteOnce it happened, confess about it in public.
They will understand the face that we are also a human being.
I think students understand that things do not always come across as intended because communication is can be a pretty complex phenomenon. I try to think before I talk and sort of form what I am trying to say first, but when I do say something that didn't come across the way I meant I always try to deal with it with humility.
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