Nebal

The Teacher īs First Impressions: Wrong or Right

Hello dear teachers,   Whether we like to admit it or not, we do judge books by their covers. When we meet people for the first time, we immediately take a mental snapshot and begin sizing them up and judging them, usually on a subconscious level.   At the very beginning of each school year, teachers meet new students and try to break the ice. Many a times we can tell about them by our first impressions. Sometimes we īre right , while  other times we discover we īre wrong.   As teachers, do you usually try to judge your newly met  students from the very first impressions?? If yes, how? If  no, why not  ?   Do you agree that teachers can tell a lot about their new students from the first impressions?? Why??   Best regards, Nebal

11 Aug 2009      

Spagman63

Yeah! When I first met you I thought you were nice, kind and helpful

11 Aug 2009     

Spagman63

11 Aug 2009     

Lana.

I always take time to form my opinion.   I had a student who was charming, interested, regular in class etc. He dropped out half way through, but before that made a few appearances in classes as a favour and pretended to be sleeping.   Now, just recently a new student arrived at our school with a full head of dreadlocks (seemed a bit alien to me, a rather traditional looking one ). He looked strange somehow, also the way he looked at other people got me suspicious, as if he was studying everyone and smiling to himself. Anyhow, he ended up in my class - and so far has been friendly, easy-going, polite, participating happily in all activities, in general interested, motivated and grateful. Voila - I was wrong, I happily admit it!   Yet again, there was another student - from the moment I saw her I knew she īd be no good and trouble, and unfortunately she proved to be one...   So, live and learn my friends, live and learn.   I never say - now I know everything. I try to be humble and remind myself that human nature is an amazing subject. Life likes to surprise you, doesn īt it?

11 Aug 2009     

Ivona

And she īs a great sport, too! She does not take things personally EVEN when they ARE personal. She knows what i īm talking about. She īs BIG in my eyes now.

11 Aug 2009     

libertybelle

11 Aug 2009     

Zora

See... I KNEW Ivonna was trouble when I first met her!!  *waves*

11 Aug 2009     

libertybelle

Yeah Zora - my mother warned me about playing with people like Ivona and NOW look what īs happened! Boy am I in trouble now! Love you Ivona!!!

11 Aug 2009     

Ivona

What īs all this wovey-dovey stuff in the posts above?? Get a gwip, people! Bah! P.S. Apologies, Nebal, for diverting from the topic you introduced. Itīs a fab topic (and i mean it), but my brain is on holiday and should be back in a week or two. I promise to pass the message to Mr Smarty as soon as heīs back in the office.

11 Aug 2009     

anitarobi

Glad Ivona and Nebal are back... you know who I miss - alienboy!-always the voice of reason here... Anyway, with all people, and here I also mean students, I have learned that my first impressions are 90% right, because whenever I had a bad impression of sb and made myself think positively and look beyond the 1st impression, I found in time that I should have trusted myself. I wouldn īt even call it 1st impression, I would even call it pure instinct. I īm not worried so much about that. What I hate about 1st impressions, or whatever you may call them, is when sb, esp a teacher, sees a st who doesn īt look promising but does show signs of potential is dismissed at once as a lost cause without even trying. I īve seen people dismiss other colleagues and sts as lost causes without even trying to scratch below the surface... You know what I mean?

11 Aug 2009     

libertybelle

Yeah Ivona īs brain is still frying in the sun cause she writes to get a gwip! What a gwip is - I sure don īt know. I do know what a GRIP is!!  And I īm gonna go out and get me one right now!!

11 Aug 2009