Miss Teacher
9 03 2007I just got home from observing a local 4th grade class - and had a complete blast. The kids were great, the teacher was amazing, and man am I tired. No wonder the day has to end at 3:00!
Of all the million things I’ve been pondering about becoming a teacher, one particular thing keeps nagging at me and won’t go away: the “Miss Teacher” label. As in - students do NOT call anyone by their first name. So - of course I would pick “Ms.” but I quickly learned that 9-year old mouths simply revert to “Miss” no matter how much you emphasize the “Z.” An intern in the class today told me that when she substituted once when she was 18, they tried calling her “Mrs.” HA! I REALLY could not handle that one!
It’s just odd that we have such an aversion to having children know us by our first names. Is it really that necessary in order to foster respect, as I’ve heard some argue? I wonder if students would view teachers differently if they were called by their first name?
Either way, I had a great time and can’t wait to do more observation hours. Makes me anxious to do my student teaching - where I’ll get to be in the classroom all day and really get to know the kids, but not have complete responsibility for them yet.
I’m glad I have all of this to distract me from the tww. Even so, I always feel like a crazy person in the tww. I think I always will. Hopefully, though, this will be the last.
it’s not just 9-year-old–i teach high schoolers, up to grade 12, and they still can’t figure it all out. half of the time they call me “mrs.” and definitely “miss” the other half. but you learn to pick your battles quickly. at my old school in nyc, they just called me “yo miss,” so i guess it’s an improvement to actually be called by my name!
oops–wrong profile! (this is us–that was a dummy profile. stupid blogger! so confusing!)