Our Worst Students Ever
Jon and Shaun recall their worst students ever. As always, they assert a position and then back away from it, and fall to accusing the system of schooling for all of their difficulties.
Jon starts the episode by pointing out that Shaun keeps in touch with his former students but that he does not keep in touch with any. Shaun explains how social media works. Thanks Shaun. Jon confesses that he does not keep up with anybody really at all, and never has. Now, Jon has some regret because of this, so Shaun and Jon start a campaign to get Jon to gather up some friends from yesteryear. Okay, so five minutes in, and I'm wondering why or why am I listening to these guys?
The topic of the episode, which we finally get to after the social media plea, is the worst students ever. Jon starts, and once again, he bemoans the first year of teaching where, surprise...surprise, Jon had a difficult time. He didn't just have a difficult time with students, he had a difficult time understanding the difference between semesters and trimesters - semester=six months; trimester=three months. Anyway, back to the discussion, Jon found out pretty early on that he was rather adept at creating a bad reputation for himself, and that a reputation can affect how others see you. Profound insight number one from these guys.
Shaun then recalls "the musician," a student who apparently was a better teacher than Shaun. Shaun is disturbed by this, probably because it points to his incompetencies that he's been hiding now for decades., but he blamed the student for his shortcomings. Of course, Shaun then defends his precious gifted and talented students, and even though they apparently did the same thing as the musician.
Jon discusses "Melody" at length, pointing to her ability to turn the class against Jon with her charisma and reputation. Jon reflects on his inadequate abilities to respond to Melody's influence, who it sounds like was also more able to teach than Jon. Really, these two guys are tied together by identifying natural-born teachers as their worst students ever.
The topic of the episode, which we finally get to after the social media plea, is the worst students ever. Jon starts, and once again, he bemoans the first year of teaching where, surprise...surprise, Jon had a difficult time. He didn't just have a difficult time with students, he had a difficult time understanding the difference between semesters and trimesters - semester=six months; trimester=three months. Anyway, back to the discussion, Jon found out pretty early on that he was rather adept at creating a bad reputation for himself, and that a reputation can affect how others see you. Profound insight number one from these guys.
Shaun then recalls "the musician," a student who apparently was a better teacher than Shaun. Shaun is disturbed by this, probably because it points to his incompetencies that he's been hiding now for decades., but he blamed the student for his shortcomings. Of course, Shaun then defends his precious gifted and talented students, and even though they apparently did the same thing as the musician.
Jon discusses "Melody" at length, pointing to her ability to turn the class against Jon with her charisma and reputation. Jon reflects on his inadequate abilities to respond to Melody's influence, who it sounds like was also more able to teach than Jon. Really, these two guys are tied together by identifying natural-born teachers as their worst students ever.