Book graphic Credit: Uploaded with permission of Hannah Mittleman ’20
Planer filled with a busy student’s schedule Credit: Uploaded with permission of Hannah Mittleman ’20
Open computer graphic Credit: Uploaded with permission of Hannah Mittleman ’20
By: Rachel Brown ’20
Meeting with a teacher is like getting into a rap battle. Palms will be sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy and a chance, although low, of having vomit on the sweater already (although highly unlikely that it will be mom’s spaghetti). Unlike most schools, ours offers plenty of opportunities to gain a further understanding of a subject by providing chances to meet with teachers and ask questions. These opportunities are missed if students are not comfortable enough to take advantage of them.
“It’s awkward in the office… I always ask my teacher if we can walk around so I cannot be in there,” Lauren McGee `20 said.
The idea of walking into a department office with five teachers a student has never met before is scarier than most Halloween decorations. While negotiating grades, hoping to better understand a lesson or just stopping in to say hello, a student has to deal with one-on-one interactions that can often turn into awkward and intermittent conversation. Knowing this going in, one can get in and out as quickly as possible or look at it in a new light.
The practice of approaching difficult meetings and situations with confidence and preparations is a life skill that extends beyond Spanish I. By stressing and avoiding the meeting, a student is missing the opportunity to practice her conversational skills. Meeting with a superior does not end once high school stops. No matter what job, hobby or lifestyle, a meeting with others will be inevitable. Students will have to negotiate when they buy a car, for the car repairs once they crash their car and in court to avoid that unfair speeding ticket. During a meeting that is awkward and stunted, it is important look at it as an opportunity to develop a real world skill. If one has a successful meeting with a teacher, congratulations. If one does not succeed,one should view it as a bump in the road. A student must be able to learn from these blunders or else the meeting and its subsequent errors meant nothing. No student should be nervous for a meeting as long as it is seen as a practice run. The consequences of a meeting can be exaggerated in a student’s mind if it is not put in perspective.
