Comments for Teachers #1

          John Spencer, a teacher in Arizona, was the first teacher I was assigned to comment on. His blog, Adventures in Pencil Integration, is a very well written blog, and I admit, it intimidated me to read his stuff. I may like to read, but I never admitted to being a talented writer. The first blog I commented on, The Enemy Isn't A Person, was about how John realized after speaking to his wife, blaming one person for problems at work, doesn't solve things. He said, the enemy is not just one particular person, but the ones who says we have to be the best at any certain thing, including education. I commented on his blog agreeing with what he had to say. We cannot point the blame at one person, the enemy is whoever says we have to be a certain way and learn a certain way. In that case, is the enemy society? In life we are so quick to judge things, and place blame on people. His blog post really made me think about who the enemies could be in our day to day life. In order to make change in things we don't agree with in our lives, we have to make a movement to change things ourselves first. You are the key to your success.
          The second blog I commented on was Pencils, Progress, and Perfection. In the blog John told how a student told him "fuck off" in class one day, and he responded by screaming, and later crying and apologizing. When he got home, he was tucking his daughter into bed, as well as her doll. She got mad when her doll was not tucked in the right way, and had a temper tantrum that brought on screaming, crying, and hitting. He then started crying during his daughters episode, so she consoled him and told him she loved him anyways, and he told the same to her. What I got from this blog is that people often times think that teachers are invincible. Everyone is human and everyone has their imperfections, even the pencils John so often talks about in his blogs. I know when I was in school I for some reason thought my teachers were invincible. When a student sees a teacher affected by emotions like John did, they don't know how to react. I think this student John spoke of will look at teachers differently from now on. Maybe even with a respect he didn't have before.

Adventures in Pencil Integration