“I think marks do affect the way I feel about myself they can make me feel less confident and sometimes I’m quite self-conscious about my marks if they are bad. Then again when I get good marks I feel quite proud of myself and I enjoy the feeling, which sort of makes me want to get good marks more often.” (J)
“How a grade affects me varies on what grade I get. If I get good grades I feel pretty good about myself. But if I get bad grades, especially if I thought I did better, it makes me feel pretty sad and down about myself.” (G)
In these responses we see the clash between the ideal image and the narrative that is internalised. The academic mirror presents an image to us, just as the fragmented and uncoordinated infant sees a whole in the mirror, …show more content…
Students set up to fail against unrealistic standards, then feeling a failure reflected in the mirror. Is it any wonder the result is to crumble or rebel? This potential internalisation of failure must surely be crushing for some and yet, they return to school day after day
My thoughts returned to Larry and our conversation outside the bookshop; I am deeply moved by the thought of Larry and boys like him.
I talked with my class yesterday regarding the nature of education and schools. The desks were all facing the front of the room and I asked why this might be the case? No one could answer me. This is a pre-tertiary class, bright young men on the verge of adulthood; intelligent and eager to move forward, winners in this game of school. As I looked over the class, it was in a sense looking back at my teaching career; there are boys in this class that I taught in Year 1 or 6, Middle School and now Year 11 and 12. There is a beauty to this and I must share it with them; the idea of a bigger picture, a sense of belonging to a larger whole resonates with me. And yet we are all unique within this whole.
I began to talk of the history of education and how schools were set up in a way to maximise the efficiency of transmission of information; usually borne
“How a grade affects me varies on what grade I get. If I get good grades I feel pretty good about myself. But if I get bad grades, especially if I thought I did better, it makes me feel pretty sad and down about myself.” (G)
In these responses we see the clash between the ideal image and the narrative that is internalised. The academic mirror presents an image to us, just as the fragmented and uncoordinated infant sees a whole in the mirror, …show more content…
Students set up to fail against unrealistic standards, then feeling a failure reflected in the mirror. Is it any wonder the result is to crumble or rebel? This potential internalisation of failure must surely be crushing for some and yet, they return to school day after day
My thoughts returned to Larry and our conversation outside the bookshop; I am deeply moved by the thought of Larry and boys like him.
I talked with my class yesterday regarding the nature of education and schools. The desks were all facing the front of the room and I asked why this might be the case? No one could answer me. This is a pre-tertiary class, bright young men on the verge of adulthood; intelligent and eager to move forward, winners in this game of school. As I looked over the class, it was in a sense looking back at my teaching career; there are boys in this class that I taught in Year 1 or 6, Middle School and now Year 11 and 12. There is a beauty to this and I must share it with them; the idea of a bigger picture, a sense of belonging to a larger whole resonates with me. And yet we are all unique within this whole.
I began to talk of the history of education and how schools were set up in a way to maximise the efficiency of transmission of information; usually borne