- Escaping teacher’s agenda: Not getting involved

• Not participating of the discussion

Student 1: How come?

Student 2: They want me to guess what they are thinking and I have my own ideas. I don’t like teacher’s “Guess what I’m thinking” game. They don’t want to listen to my ideas, I don’t say a word.

Student 1: Give me a concrete example…

Student 2: They ask “what should we have done” instead of “what could we have done” so they already have their idea…they are just pretending to be interested in our ideas.

Student 1: Ah, like yesterday on TV, they wanted audience opinion but the question was “don’t you think we have a moral responsibility to…?” Seriously, they should ask “what are the pros and cons...”

• Avoiding looking at the teacher

Student 1:I was surprised that “Stress Management” was the first theme the class chose to study

Student 2: I thought it was a good choice. The relaxing techniques have helped me a lot. Don’t you feel stressed by coming to school?

Student 1: Yesterday I got so mad. I could use the deep breathing technique but I just stopped breathing…I tried to kill myself but unfortunately here I am (laugh). M1 (a classmate) had asked my help so I hadn’t read the text when the discussion began. I tried hard to understand what was going on…I was lost. Nothing was making sense. I was so irritated that I could not face the teacher so I turned to the side and I saw the phrase “Just do it!” on the side black board. That is what I need: a black board to understand me (laugh)

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Dialogues&Stories (Life, School, Classroom)

- Focusing on what’s relevant: Building a safe place to be honest

“I didn’t do the assignment”

“I didn’t do the portfolio. The teacher has seen how well I have done the assignments. She doesn’t need the portfolio to grade me. This is just aesthetic”

“I am sick, I am going back home”

“I need to carry her to the hospital. She is sick”

“My boyfriend cheated on me, I am looking for a place to stay”

“Her accent irritates me…likeee, ”

“Chinese cookies? No thanks. I don’t eat Chinese stuff…it is too far, they don’t worry about us, they just want to sell us things”

“Send them to jail?! They will be living on our taxes. They should be killed to show Canadians don’t tolerate terrorists.”

- Listening beyond stereotypes: Students are experts

• Students know when they learn better
  

I learn better when it is my own interest, when I have no money problem, when I get paid to learn, when I have a right environment, when I dance, when I have brain food (rest, group and teacher good energy, visual handouts, interesting subject), when I have time enough to learn and time to repeat once and repeat again” (quote from a poster made in class)

Student: ... I prefer to learn by listening. I am too lazy to write, draw or walk a sequence.

• Students know what a good teacher is

“We expect the teacher to provide “us” the knowledge to success in this class, understanding of personal circumstances within reason, respect our opinions and views, provide different pathways for each student, stimulate our minds, hearts and souls daily, provide “us” the skills to become KILLERS in the real world, have reasonable expectations over the period we are together (quote from a poster made in class)

• The students brought the following saying to be discussed in class
  

If you step on it then it’s your problem

If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me

Opportunityisnowhere

Everybody loves hard workers

Failure is a bump on the highway of life (Perigord Cleaners Road Sign as seen on the Kingsway)

An unwritten want is a wish, a dream. A never happen. The day you put your goal in writing is the day it becomes a commitment that will change your life. Are you really ready? (Tom Hopkins)

Do what you want to do now, we can not live in eternity

We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hands – and meeting like a snowflake (Mary Bayron Ray)

Life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what your going to get
(Forest Gump)

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Dialogues&Stories (Life, School, Classroom)

- Silencing voices: power issues

• Unintentionally rudeness

The teacher asked the students who knew what a hypothesis was. The aboriginal student answered “an educated guess”. Without hearing the soft student’s voice, the teacher said: "A proposition assumed as a premise in an argument, we are not 100% sure about it but it is a reasonable explanation for something that occurred!”

Student 1 (commenting to students on his side): I thought hypothesis was an educated guess”.

Student 2: I think you are right. Repeat to her, I think she didn’t listen. Why don’t you repeat it to her?

Student 3: Repeat it, beg for her attention (laugh)

Student 1: I am not a credited voice…

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Dialogues&Stories (Life, School, Classroom)