Fires in the Bathroom Chapter 9 "When Things Go Wrong"

    One thing that really jumped out at me in this chapter was how students presented a new teacher's attempt at being liked by his/her students. It's really interesting to read about their perspective of a new teacher being nice to them and how they would actually respect the teacher more if they didn't try and put being liked by their students over their authority. (p. 167-168).

    When I read this I was really intrigued, but my first thought was that this all depends on the area (an urban area vs. rural). I can see where these students could feel this way, but I could also see the other side. As I've mentioned I am originally from New Jersey so my elementary school years were completed there. I can see how the lifestyles of education vary from a town in New Jersey to a small town in Maine. Most students in New Jersey school systems don't want their teachers to have a caring relationship that is put over their authority whereas, the lifestyle of Maine is different and people are naturally nicer. There are small towns and everybody knows everybody and teachers are generally nicer and relate to their students more. I think that's why when I was reading this I instantly thought, not all students would agree with what was written in the book because they do want teachers to have a caring relationship as well as use their authority, whereas trying to stay away from stereotypes city kids don't usually like when teachers act that way. Another example of this that really put this into perspective was that most students in Maine like to continue to go to Universities in Maine because they like the one on one interaction with the professors that they couldn't get if they went to a big University and that is the biggest reason I hear students say they like UMF so much. However, this is different in the city. Students are used to being just a number in the classroom, not being recongnized (an I am not saying that's right but it's how it goes), and going to big Universities they know won't be changing the dynamic of how they've always done things and they won't be put in the spotlight or singled out. These are all the interesting thoughts that this chapter really emphasized for me and really helped me understand the difference of teaching in different areas.