BFTP: Be kind
Wednesday, April 1, 2020 at 03:26PM 
What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness.
George Saunders’s Advice to Graduates
One of the best posts I've ever read is Give the kid a pencil by Chad Donohue on the Teaching Tolerance blog. He writes about a grad class discussing: "If a student shows up to class without a pencil, how should the teacher respond?" He writes:
Small groups collaborated for a few minutes. Ultimately, they came up with plans involving taking something (a shoe?) from the student as collateral to remind the student about the importance of having supplies, notifying parents and even assigning classroom cleanup duty or lunch detention.
“What about you, Prof?” they asked.
“I would give the kid a pencil,” I said.
“You mean the first time?” someone asked.
“Every time,” I said.
Why, as educators, as parents, as supervisors, do we think we have to be such hard asses all the time? "Give'm an inch and they'll take a mile" seems to be the going sentiment among a lot of people.
Come on, let's...
- Give the kid a pencil - everytime.
- Let the kid check out another book even if he has one overdue.
- Cut the kid some slack if he forgets to charge his iPad.
- Turn a blind eye if the para needs to go home to take care of a sick kid.
- Empathize when a tech makes a mistake.
I like responsible people. I really do. But I rather doubt being an ass ever made anyone behave better.
Be kind. We do tend to do behave and perform better for those we love...
And while you're at it, practice a little self-forgiveness as well.
See also:
Reader Comments (2)
Specifically good post in today's world - as a computer science teacher I have come to realize that many "digital natives" have a tough time with the non-gaming / non-social media tech world. They can Instagram me under the table but getting into a web conference or scanning and uploading a homework assignment can be a challenge.
I agree about the tech literacy levels of the younger crowd. And it is not just the how to use the tech, but how well and for what purpose.
Doug