224: Some Thoughts on Teachers Crying in the Classroom

The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast

Jennifer Gonzalez

Education, Teaching, Instruction, Classroommanagement, Educationreform

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2024

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Crying in front of your students can be a humiliating experience. Not the kind that happens when you're moved to tears by a poignant story or you react to upsetting news; those moments can actually bond you to your students. It’s the kind that comes from frustration, shame, anger, or loss of control. It might be something you experience as a new teacher, but it can also happen well into your career. Regardless, if it happens to you, it can shake you up. In this episode, I share a few thoughts that might help.

Thanks to Edge•U Badges and EVERFI for sponsoring this episode.

To read a written version of this episode and find links to all the resources I mention, go to cultofpedagogy.com/crying-in-class.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is Jennifer Gonzalez welcoming you to episode 224 of the Cult of pedagogy podcast.
0:06.0	In this episode I am going to share some thoughts about teachers crying in the day it happened to me
0:28.5	the day it happened to me was in my fourth year of teaching. I was in a new seventh grade language arts position. One I'd started in January after a teacher retired mid-year,
0:34.0	so I hadn't had enough time yet to build the relationships
0:37.2	that are the foundation of my approach to classroom management.
0:40.9	That day, I was trying to get my second period to do an activity where small groups had to do some kind of sorting with a set of small cards, pieces of card stock with words on them that I had spent way too long the night before cutting out and
0:54.7	organizing into envelopes for each group. It wasn't going well. I had given what I
1:00.4	thought were clear instructions but once I told them to get started,
1:04.2	several groups seemed to just be socializing
1:06.6	and not following instructions with the cards.
1:09.4	In one group, two students tried diligently
1:11.5	to start the activity while their teammates stared off into space.
1:15.2	A guy in the back grabbed a girl's purse, causing her to squeal flirtatiously and start hitting his arm.
1:21.1	I was getting frustrated. To make matters worse, I was feeling particularly raw for some reason that day.
1:27.0	Maybe I was sick or worried about something or short on sleep or all of the above.
1:32.0	As I tried to get them back on track, I found myself getting in my head.
1:38.0	They would never act this way in Tony's class, I thought, like I often did,
1:42.0	comparing myself to my much more experienced
1:44.6	mentor down the hall. They don't like me. They don't respect me. I saw a pair of
1:50.4	students laughing and I immediately assumed they were laughing at me.
1:54.2	They think they can get away with anything, I thought.
1:56.8	They think I'm a joke.
	...

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