Quantcast

Betty's Blog

Timely Teacher Talk

Sponsored Links

Adults are kids too

This is a teaching weekend for me.  Although I retired from teaching a few years ago, I am not really retired.  I substitute in my local district and also teach childbirth classes at a hospital.

Teaching adults is something I never thought I'd do.  Just standing up at a faculty meeting used to make me sweat and quake in my shoes.  I am surprised at myself that my life has taken some of the twists and turns that it has.  I joke with my adult classes that one of the biggest differences is discipline.  I never have to remind them to pay attention.  Of course, they are very interested in the content.  That helps a lot too.

The part that I enjoy the most is the interaction.  Some of the comments make us all stop and laugh.  The anticipation of being new parents connects them, and I'm sure there are those who will become lifelong friends. I always come away from class laughing about something that was said or done.  This part does remind me of teaching sixth grade.  Also, there is usually something that goes wrong.  Last Wednesday night when I was teaching a CPR class, the computer decided to go nuts.  I'll talk about that in my next post.:)

Share this post: Email It | Bookmark It | Digg This | Reddit | Stumble It
Add to favorites: Favorite Post | Favorite Blog | Favorite Author
Posted: Saturday, January 09, 2010 8:01 AM by Betty
Comments

halpey1 said:

Ah, I love this.  Make me think of my post:

http://halpey1.blogspot.com/2009/12/quote.html

# January 9, 2010 9:14 AM

Edie Parrott said:

Betty, I am so glad you are still teaching. I am thinking about retiring, but even though I know I would enjoy having a few days off, I worry about how much I will miss teaching. Maybe I just need to find some older kids (adults) to teach!

# January 9, 2010 10:34 AM

Katherine said:

I'm curious how you like subbing. I'll retire in 2 years and I think I'd rather get a part or full-time secretarial job, than sub. I think it would be so hard to get a phone call asking me to go teach some strange class in some strange school... do you ever feel intimidated about it? I think it takes a very special person to be able to sub! Glad that people like you can do it though... I always love having retired teachers sub for my class!

# January 10, 2010 8:30 AM

Betty said:

Katherine,

Subbing did make me nervous at first.  It doesn't bother me now.  I am picky about where I go.  The kids make "old" jokes at times but realize that I am not bothered by it.  A tough skin is definitely needed.  I think that secretarial work sounds good too.  One thing I don't like about subbing is the lack of companionship and close friends.  I do have that at the hospital where I work.  I like having my buddies.:)

# January 10, 2010 9:46 AM

ODRYgm said:

With the purpose to foreclose the failures in some dissertation reference, that will be the best to purchase the interesting story close to this good post at the <a href="http://www.master-dissertations.com">thesis</a> service in web. It is not so hard to get the PhD getting this way.

# January 10, 2010 10:04 AM

Ginger said:

We recently had a teacher fair to share strategies and ideas from our classrooms as a professional development and I decided to sign up. It was strange to see my classroom with with my adult colleagues who were eager to learn from ME! It has started me thinking that maybe I'm destined for greater things. =)

Just this week, one of our fifth grade teachers came to me and said, "I just love the idea you taught us! It's working like a charm in my classroom." I almost fell over I was so overjoyed, if that's even the right word. I totally understand how you feel!

Visit my blog at http://gingersnapstreatsforteachers.blogspot.com/ I'd like to get the word out there for other elementary teachers who are looking for great ideas to use in their classrooms.

# January 14, 2010 2:49 PM

DegreeFinders said:

I think adults are easier too because for the most part they are there because they want to be. Now days it feels as if children are at school simply because they have to be. There are so many challenges for them, so many things to fear and bumps in the road that it's more of a chore than anything else for many of them. With adults, they sit there because they really want to be there. Usually nobody is making them.

# January 15, 2010 9:14 AM

Melissa B. said:

Keeping your finger in the proverbial pie, huh? I enjoy teaching high school kiddos 'cause they're sort of "mini adults." I'm afraid, however, that if I taught real grown-ups that they'd try to contradict me, no?

# January 18, 2010 3:40 PM

Online High School said:

I agree with you.Adults are kids but they can't disclose their childish behavior in front of students.They show their professionalism.

# January 19, 2010 5:42 PM

Miss Teacha said:

OMG, I love teaching adults, too! I love that you can have jokes and still stay on task.   And have loved doing PD this year--done several sessions on Kinesthetic Learning.

# January 25, 2010 12:53 AM
New Comments to this post are disabled.