There is one week left of class, and today I told my 8th graders I was probably telling them the last story of the year. A few students made sad faces but one student, let’s call her Elizabeth, exclaimed “YEAH!” with a big smile. I looked at her in semi shock, and she said she did not like the stories. Ouch! It stings. It won’t be the first or the last time a student gives me feed-back out loud, and I have heard a lot worse during my career as a teacher but still, ouch.
Now, what to do with this feed-back? Since it was not disrespectful in any way, but just an honest feed-back, I told her honesty was important and that she’d better listen carefully since it was the last story of the year! Then, I proceeded to telling my story. “Once upon a time there was a queen…” I drew a queen with a sad face and a student blurted in French “Elle s’appelle Elizabeth” (her name is Elizabeth), and I just went with it. We ended up having a good old time with this story 🙂 And Elizabeth played along because she is such a great kiddo.
It is so hard not to take feed-back personally but a little sense of humor goes a long way. I hope you enjoy our last story of the year:
I very much relate to this. Of course it is completely unrealistic of us to think that we can appeal to all students year after year…but we try, and it still stings when we miss one! Thanks for sharing.
I know the feeling! Next week our school has a schedule change, so one class which was originally canceled has been reinstated. It really hurt my feelings to hear a number of students express dismay on having to attend my class.