December 7, 2007 | Posted At: 01:01 PM | Author: Alexander Russo | Category: Teachers & Teaching
The Infuriating Smile
Check out this post I read from a former TFA teacher via Joanne Jacobs about how one teacher finally figured out that kids in his classroom weren't disrespecting him if they smiled when they got into trouble.
It was a different kind of smile, developed in response to a different culture. That seems right to me -- both the initial frustration with the reaction and the eventual realization that it might not be so confrontational.
But then again, I'm known to smile during fights -- nervousness, I think -- which makes the people I'm fighting with even angrier. Or is this Urban Teaching 101?
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
