I am continually intrigued by the perceptions students have of their teachers. My students are especially frank and honest. If they love a teacher, I hear about it. If they hate a teacher, I hear about it even more. Working in a small school, everybody knows everybody VERY well. We have two teachers per core subject area (Math, History, English, Science), one teacher per elective (Computers, FACS, Agricultural Education), one special education teacher, one counselor, and one principal. So, when students complain about or praise a teacher, I know exactly who they are talking about. Sometimes the points they make are valid and/or insightful. Other times, they have received some sort of misinformation, or they lack the maturity to truly understand the situation. I require a lot from my students, and I am sure that this is reflected in how students view me and speak about me to others.
Yesterday, two students decided that they were going to challenge each other to a drawing contest. One of the students would pick something to draw, and both girls would have to draw it. Then, they would see whose drawing was the best. The subjects for their drawings ranged from the Mona Lisa to Hitler to an Egyptian Person to a pear to each other to ME! I was a little scared to look at their pictures of me.
I snapped pictures of their Mona Lisas and their portraits of me. I'm not quite sure there are words to describe how I feel about these...
First, I present to you my students' renditions of the Mona Lisa:
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| Mona Lisa |
And, now, my students' portraits of me. I think I fared a bit better than Mona Lisa. Though, I'm still not quite sure what to think...
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| How Students See Their Math Teacher |
I guess I'm most intrigued by the thought bubbles. Obviously, my students still need some more work on how to spell pi. And, then there's the fact that one plus two does not equal three pi. One pi plus two pi equals three pi. Is this what they meant? Or, did they just mean 1 + 2 = 3? And, they just threw in the word "pie" for good measure??? And, math is definitely something to get excited about! YAY!!!
