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100 Day Project – Day 19 – Excuses and Reasons

September 26th, 2011 · 5 Comments · 100 Days Project, Children, Musings, photo of the week, Teaching & Learning, Work

Day 100 Project – Day 19 – 7:53 p.m.

The excuses, oh sorry, reasons, have begun.  Why my reading response is late, and when I’ll get it in to you — okay?  I’ve learned at community college that many excuses are reasons; and incredibly legitimate reasons.  Just today a young woman called to tell me she was in the hospital due to domestic violence – that’s one I never doubt and that I’ll be as supportive as I can to get her back on track.

But some days, there’s just so many “my printer is broken,” “I lost my flash drive.,” “I have to work late.,” excuses I can take.  I’ve learned to be completely respectful, even as I doubt a little, because I really don’t know.  I give each one of them the benefit of the doubt, because in just two to three more weeks, the ones who aren’t going to be responsible with their work will give up telling me excuses, and likely fail the course.  And, the others, whose reasons were accurate will catch up and come often to get my reassurance.

And sometimes, I just wonder if I give out too much homeowrk:  but that doubt doesn’t last long.  If you want to work with children: in my book, that equals a deep reading, and writing, and working to construct important knowledge about those children.  That doesn’t come easily.  Today I’m thinking about excuses — or maybe it’s reasons.

Teaching cartoon

 

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5 Comments so far ↓

  • ProfSharon

    Natasha — I’d be very interested in your suggestions of items for me to pursue as a topic to read.

    SerahRose — I think I agree. Humans do want the other person to try to understand the why – in this case the why of unfinished commitments to the homework. And, I’ve heard close to your particular reasons before; and I always accept with a smile and ask the student to catch up as quickly as they can!

  • Natasha

    Can your readers ask you to reflect on some topics, or only you can choose the topics to reflect on? If we can, let us know. 🙂

    I think it is great that you took this project on and that you are staying with it. I hope Rich will back this up for your grand child(ren) to read.

    I’ve been asking my dad to start writing for several months so my son could learn from him. He has not yet.

    And, of course, my mom, now that she is gone, can’t share with me and my child here wisdom any longer. I keep her very few letters and typed them up for them not to vanish.

    Only after I became a mother, I understood how important our roots in understanding ourselves. By writing, you will help your children and grand child(ren) to get to know their roots and who they are.

  • Natasha

    Not related to the above. Maybe, in one of your posts, you could write your opinion about this model http://schoolofone.org/concept_introvideos.html?playVideo

  • Natasha

    I do not know about excuses vs reasons. What is an excuse or a reason is different in different cultures.

    But I do believe in giving the benefit of a doubt. In my book, everyone should have the second, and third, and n’s chance, as long as they want it.

    I committed to read your 100 days of posts, if not daily, in chunks. Please keep writing.

  • SerahRose

    I actually think it’s really hard to NOT offer an excuse. Because even though teachers say they don’t want to hear it, they really do. And if you simply say, “I didn’t do it,” most respond by acting oddly put-off. As if having the decency to not bore the rest of the class with the story of your internet crapping out, your daughter up in the night with a fever, and the lack of bread in the house is an offense.

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