Just Some Random Thoughts

After spending a lot of time reading other teacher blogs, I thought I would put my thoughts out there. We all, as teachers, are inundated with advice from people who are surely much better at our jobs than us. Just ask them. I remember taking all the teacher courses in college that assured us that the methods being taught to us would make our students succeed. When I was a police officer I was told that the methods I was being taught in the police academy could someday save my life. It is strange now that these two training programs now sound so similiar.
The first thing my training officer said to me when I was a rookie cop was forget all that crap you learned in the academy. My cooperating teacher wisely told me that the crap I was learning in college would be of little use in the classroom. I had always felt that teacher training was a little heavy on the "kumbaya" method of learning. I remain convinced that students respect teachers who challenge them, set limits and furnish them with rules for classroom discipline and behavior . A professor once told us that students would more readily follow rules that they had helped formulate. They need to be "invested." What? Call me cynical but that seems a little naive to me.
When I taught DARE, I used to tell parents that they shouldn't try to be their kids' friends. They have enough friends. They need parents. Someone has to be the adult.
I tell my students the first day of school that this class will not be fun. It is not my job to entertain, it's my job to educate. If you want entertainment go to Disneyland.