le 15 novembre (teacher talk)

le 15 novembre:

- In general, I had a really great day today.  In the middle of my 12eme SS math class, it all of a sudden struck me, I'm a teacher. I'm an educator.  Je suis un enseignant.  J'enseigne en francais.  Wow! I've got a rapport with my students and they're learning.
Life is good.

- I have a constant internal struggle between my pedagogic ideals and values.  I have a very liberal/ laissez-faire approach to teaching.  Ideally, I would create an atmosphere in which all my students would want to be there, learn, create, and explore.  Motivation and drive would come from them and I would simply navigate.  But that's an ideal and can at times not be the reality of the matter.  But I still have a responsibility to these kids, even if they don't want to learn.
Sticking point one/Tough question #1:
If a student doesn't want to learn or doesn't want to try, should I make them?  It's his or her own life and it's his or her own choice, n'est-ce pas?  But if he or she doesn't have the foresight to realize that it's in his or her best interest to learn and succeed, does it then become my responsibility to make him or her learn?  My goal is to impact people's lives for the better (against their will or not?) and that is the job.
Sticking point two:
I don't like negative incentivising, but if a student doesn't have the drive to be the best or at least be competitive, but instead, simply just get by, then positive incentivising doesn't work too well.  de plus, penalizing is the norm here.  If I don't penalize students, there will be those who won't have respect in the classroom (as I'm starting to see).
Tough question #2:
How do you penalize someone while still giving them the greatest access to success? Kicking a student out is a hindrance to learning - but if the student is hindering the learning of others is it justified - (yes, but make up that time with the student later?).

- I constantly wonder what I must do to have the biggest impact and in what domain - where is the biggest need or what's the most important issue.  I'm currently leaning towards education and that that is the most important aspect of life as well as the best route to effect other domains.  If I settle on education the question becomes, how can I have the biggest impact or how can I impact the most people within the realm of education? Qu'est-ce qu'il faut faire?