Hgh school students - should they call me by my first name?

ryunin

When in Rome ...... :wink:

Seriously, what is OK in the US might not be considered OK in the Czech Republic. That's no big deal, really. It's just cultural differences. If your classes are interesting & engaging students will respond positively no matter what you call yourself.
Here in Oz I've been called by my first name when appropriate (like when working in alternative schools) & in more formal settings I'm happy to be called Ms ..... .
I don't see why it's such a concern for you, really.

I think it's a mistake that you may pay for later.

Just an opinion.

If I was a teacher, I'd much rather be called by my first name.

Why?

I'll ask you why, too, Lash. Just interested in the reasons for people's opinions.

I just don't see the reason for calling anyone mr/ms/miss or mrs so and so. My last name is also very long and I don't like being called by my last name.

I think there is a very important boundary between student/teacher. I think it is incumbent on the person in authority to establish that boundary for the comfort and social instruction of the student.

Just Friday--(bad scene)--this seemingly free-spirited young girl (cute and she knows it) breezes into biology lab late. She has a habit of speaking very casually to the prof, who is young, handsome but serious about his job, attendance and punctuality. She speaks to him in the manner of a girl, trying to string along a boy.

I noticed (as we were all milling about in lab) him say quietly to her, "You're late again. You're going to have to start taking this class more seriously." She grins, not taking him seriously at all.

Later in class, as we're all working at our desks, she beckons to him for an explanation about what we're working on, with a crooked finger and "Hey you!"

<skin crawls...she didn't see it coming, but I did>

He strides to her desk, leans down very closely and speaks under his breath, "My name is Mr. ***, not Hey You. I am very dissatisfied with your attitude in this class..." <finally grin disappears> I didn't hear the other sentence.

A student can be taught well without cronying with the teacher. SOME students take the ability to use a prof's first name as an invitation to all manner of abuse.

I think the line (thin and baby-blue, scented with hyacinth--BUT EASILY LOCATED) is good for student and teacher.

My moral: This prof had attempted to establish a boundary. How much worse might this misunderstanding been had he said, "Just call me Bob." Wouldn't it have sent mixed signals to the girl?
Hey, he's cool.

Hey, he's not cool.

I thought he was my friend.

I guess it's just conventions in particular situations, Montana. I never exactly enjoyed being called "Mrs" & always introduced myself as Ms ...... No big deal. If students asked my why, I told them. It was never a big issue, really. No problem. I was called "Olga" at my alternative school because everyone else was called by their first name, too. I was very comfortable with that, too. A totally different environment.

However, someone calling themselves by their first name in a school situation where that is not considered OK is sticking their neck out & drawing attention to themselves. So I'd be wondering: for what purpose?: Political? Making a point of declaring they are "different" to others here?Personal preference? Relationship with their students? This might surprise you, but I find the necessity to draw attention to one's self by declaring "difference" in this way rather counter-productive. If you're not a particularly terrific teacher, then you're only drawing attention to to your less than wonderful performance. Conservative staff can then make an issue of your "familiarity" with the students as being the cause of the problem. Or, in the misguided belief that using your first name will encourage students to like you more (more than those stodgy others! ) if you allow them to call you by your first name, you may well find that it has exactly the opposite effect. I've seen this happen many a time to the distress of the teacher involved. ("I was nice to them, why are they not nice back? )
The thing is, adolescents are pretty self-centred beings. Most couldn't give a toss about who you are, it's what you are in the classroom that counts. You either engage them or you don't. You're fair or you're a Nazi. They can talk to you about an important issue or they can't. They're the things that really matter to them.

As a teacher of high school students, I have yet to be addressed by my first name in the classroom (more than once) by any student. There is a basic matter of respect which is taken into account according to school policy and students are aware of the fact that they are to refer to and address all members of the faculty and school staff (custodians, secretaries, advisors, principal, etc.) as Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms.

Over the years I have known a number of students as neighbors or from other venues such as certain community activities and in those places there has often been a first name familiarity. If the school changed it's policy I would not object to students referring to me by my first name.

I agree with Lash. Establish and maintain the boundaries. If you must, you can breach them later, but once breached, you can never go back.

First names might work socially, or at some out of class school functions, but not at school and in class. I'm not really sure first names would work even then in the Czech Republic.

Students sometimes ask if they can call me by my first name. I always tell them that it's not appropriate in THIS situation, while it might have been appropriate in others. (Like my alternative school) They don't have any problem with this at all. It's hardly a burning issue to them. As I keep saying, it's what you've got to offer them in the classroom that matters most. Make no mistake, they know WHO you are!

thank you for all your ideas

it seems I will stick with my last name

although I have never met an American or British or any native English teacher who would be called by his or her last name in any class I have been to in Prague, it seems a high school is a different matter

to me teaching English has always been associated with friendly, informal atmosphere - so first names are used in evening classes for adults AND teenagers, companies where we teach English, language schools, TEFL course, all our teachers were called by their first names... so it is just strange to be called Mr.

the fact is, some 10 years ago, I started to teach English at this high school in Prague and I was so influenced by the teaching style of an American friend of mine, that my first name was a natural part of that style - did it work?

It is interesting, the conservative headmaster never complained about this, I think she considered me a NEW wave or new style kind of English teacher , I was also wearing an earring... I was very anti- establishment, as there was almost no establishment back then, I mean it was a very fresh, very new post-communist culture only looking for its new democratic culture - I was , yes, a rebel of a teacher, but soon it was clear to all teachers, that I had great results. My students sometimes naughtily yelled to me Hey, Roman in the hallway, but they knew I gave no As for nothing. We would go to a cafe after class or something, but in class, they knew they had to speak English and learn and communicate to get As from me. Passive students didn't even bother to call me Roman, because they were just passive teenagers with personal problems and they didn't care - about results or about my name. The loud ones were good speakers and good friends. If the purpose of my teaching was really TEACHING English, then Roman worked out great. If the purpose of my teaching was establishing a barrier between me and the students, then I awfully failed.

I remember at times when I came into the classroom, wearing my earring and being friendly and stuff, the class went dead silent immediately. If anyone was chatting, the other students quickly called them to order. Quite incredible, isn't it? I didn't even have to discipline them, they disciplined themselves! SO big was their desire to learn phrases, grammar, lexis, communicate in English. They were sixteen, they were all girls, no boys there at that time, later it changed, but they knew they could learn English from me and then use it for their career or traveling aims. So like one of you said, yes, they cared what I did in class, more than anything else.

So it is temtping to continue in this style in the new high school. The staff is even more friendly than the staff was in the previous one. I don't wear earrings any more and I am 38 now. I have much more experience and the students all study classical music. It is a very friendly school, you can feel it in the hallways. But this time, I don't want to take risks. Because to be professional, this time, means even more than to be a great English teacher. I learned that at the TEFL course. I remember at the first high school I did have some stupid arguments with some classes and that was not necessary. I had the arguments because after a couple of years I ran out of energy, the new students were not so enthusiastic any more, so only informal atmosphere lasted but the teaching- learning relationship started to deteriorate. So Mr would have worked as a lock - at least I could have kept some authority or something.

All in all, Mr now seems more appropriate. You are right it does not matter that much. It will be strange but I will get used to it. Thanks

Best of luck, ryunin!

And why not keep us posted when you're in the job? Sounds very interesting work to me.

I think that it is important to maintain some sort of boundary. I have always been bugged though, by the culture in schools where everyone is called Miss that, or Mr. this.

I have become aware of a practice that is used in Russia, (through books and movies) where there is a middle ground between extreme formality and informality. If you know someone too well to call them "Mr", but not well enough to be on a first name basis, you would use both the first and patronymic in greeting. The patronymic is the father's name.

For instance, there is a man named John Jones, whose father's name is Robert. So you would call him "John Robertson" If that is too complicated, since we don't use the patronymic in English, you might just simply use the first and last name.

"Good morning, John Jones".



http://www.russian-com.co.uk/fun/five-2.html

I know that this is quite a departure from what has been done in the past................but one has to start somewhere.

In the final analysis -- and I think somebody else has already said this -- it all comes down to 'what is appropriate in the particular situation I am in?' If first-name useage simply isn't done among Czech teachers, then don't do it. You have to get along with more than just your students -- you have your colleagues to consider also. Where I teach, everybody is on a first-name basis. We once had a new teacher who insisted the students call him 'Mr. Clark.' He was the only one so addressed. He soon became very unpopular and didn't last very long in the job. Your situation is the same, only reversed.

OK i will keep you updated, tomorrow the most important thing is not to be late, i hope my cell phone will wake me all right

thanks to everyone again

I've taught (kind of part time ass professor) Social Work at university.

I had - generally - no problems with calling the students by first name and vice versa.
These probelms even didn't occur, when they wrote their MA/BA thesis.

There where no problems with with staff - the dean said - more jokingly - that this was part of my academic freedom. :wink:

Generally, I agree with Lash. While some American high school students could handle being on a first name basis with their teacher and still respect the professional boundary, most can't. American high school students tend to see anyone with whom they're on a first name basis as a peer or friend, and peers and friends don't give homework, failing grades, or detention. That being said, when I bump into former students who have graduated and they call me "Mr. ---", I tell them to call me by my first name--they're an adult now and they can either call me by my first name or insist I use "Mr." or "Ms." when addressing them.

When teaching adults, however (as in college/university), the instructor should only insist on a title if he or she is prepared to address each and every student with one. When I've taught college courses, I've told my students to use my first name. Whenever I've had professors who insisted on a title, I've insisted that they address me in kind (with the exception of a select few professors whom I truly venerated).

However, if I taught where it was acceptable for high school students to address teachers by their first names and doing so didn't negate the respect necessary for me to do my job, I'd have no problem allowing my students to do so.