Pop Quiz: Respect
When I was getting my master’s degree I was in an incredible program at the University of Pennsylvania called the Penn Science teachers institute, Master’s of Chemistry Education. In this program I was taught by many phenomenal people, but the person I want to focus today’s post on was a man named Dr. Wesley Pitts. The program followed a cohort model, and so Dr. Pitts began his class with a group of sixteen people who had been through the trials of Chemistry from organic to inorganic to environmental and we had become a unified front. Add to the dynamic that we were a rather pale group from the Philadelphia area and Dr. Pitts was a black man from Brooklyn, there could have been tension, but from the moment he took control of the class Dr. Pitts modeled the word respect.
Respect is a word that is thrown about casually in a classroom, but if you think about it you rarely see a teacher modelling how to respect another individual. The first time I consciously saw it modeled was in that classroom. I saw a man respect a class’s identity and accept it. He rolled with it, saying through his actions, ok this is who you are, I get it, but this, this is what I will teach you.
This past year I have tried to actively model respect for my students. I try to show them through my actions that I see them as human beings, with thoughts and feelings. When I correct inappropriate behavior I try to take in to account the person I am talking to. I have started my corrective conversations with how are you? or you seem to be upset? before I point out the inappropriate behavior and apply a consequence. Don’t get me wrong, I do apply a consequence, but I have found that taking the extra 30 seconds and being the adult in the situation gives the child the time to collect themselves. It then becomes a short path to a civil conversation about an inappropriate behavior, rather than a long pissing contest.
My father always said, “Don’t wrestle with pigs. You get dirty and the pig kinda likes it.” But what happens when you treat the “pig” as a person (Two legs better than four!)?
So my question today is R-E-S-P-E-C-T what does it mean to you? How do you show respect? What do you do to actively gain respect?
Bonus: before my father, who first said “Don’t wrestle with pigs. You get dirty and the pig likes it.”
Bonus 2: What book is this from “Two legs better than four”?
The Pop Quiz is a question posed to you, the Scholars of Doubt. Look for it to appear Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons (ET).