Is Odd Better?

Dr. Seuss famously said ‘You have to be odd to be number 1.”

Which brings up 2 important questions for me.

First, is it important to be a student’s “favorite” teacher?  Do students learn better from teachers they like?

The second question Dr. Seuss’s quote brought up for me asks if odd teachers are better teachers? Do you have to stand out to be outstanding?

Follow along as I delve into these two thoughts…..

Favoritism

Everyone likes to be liked. Everyone loves to be loved. It warms my heart when a students says I’m their favorite and I’m sure it does yours also. But does that mean that they’re learning?

My second period this year was challenging. In terms of behavior, there were a few impulsive kids and a few inattentive kids which made crafting engaging activities tricky. In terms of ability, there were a few 504s and an IEP. I worked really hard to form relationships with them. I saved all my energy for that class so that I could entertain, keep their attention, and give them a little science in the most palatable way possible.

In June, just before school let out, one boy told me I was “sometimes mean.” I was hurt. I had bent myself into pretzels trying to build relationships with them. I had saved my best jokes for them, gave them down time and brain breaks as often as possible, and spent a few minutes every day chatting with them individually – “How’s your day going?” “What are you going to name your new dog?” “How was the softball game?” So I was hurt. What could I possibly have done that this student perceived as mean?

So I asked some probing questions. Without accusation but from a conversational tone, I asked “What did I do that makes you say I’m mean?”  His answer: “You gave us homework.”

After some conversation, he told me that my standards were high and that was what he perceived as mean. “But you’re still my favorite teacher,” he added.

“But I’m mean?” I asked him.

“Yeah, but you help us learn everything even though you give us a lot of work.”

I’m ok not being their favorite – I work with many very talented teachers who are gifted educators and I don’t need to compete for my own ego. But I do think that kids learn better from teachers that they like, and, probably more importantly, from teachers that they think like them. If you don’t have a relationship with your students, they are not going to learn what you want them to learn.

Oddness

What students call oddness might be interpreted as originality. If every class is exactly the same predictable class, your day would be really boring.

In my seventh period class this year, I had a student transfer in to the district in February. The winter is long and we were all getting bored of each other, so this new student was a welcome distraction. The day before he was supposed to come to class, I appointed one student to be the seat and lab partner for the new student and had everyone brainstorm ways they could help him get acclimated to our school. On the big day, many of my seventh graders stopped by my room to tell me they had met the new boy and share all of their intel with me. When he walked in to science, one girl said to him, “Science isn’t like the other classes. You’ll like this one.”

While science teachers are often perceived as “odd,” I fit well within the parameters of a middle school teacher. I don’t wear Ms. Frizzle clothes and my lessons are pretty generic science lessons – nothing ever explodes (much to my middle schoolers’ chagrin) and we never get into magic school buses for surprise field trips. But this promise that science wasn’t like the other classes felt like a blessing. What a compliment!

I don’t know what makes me “odd,” but I do know that I love my students and enjoy being with them. Is that what makes me odd? I know that I work very hard to craft activities that are relevant and interesting. Is that odd? I also know this – some of my favorite people are weird.

What do you think?  Do you have to be odd to be number one? Should you even try to be number one? Let me know in the comments.