Long Silence in the Classroom
By Tivish Blog
While the teacher is giving his lecture in the front, the students somehow look very tired and sleepy as though they have stayed up last night. After all teachers’ duty is to give lecture, they have to finish the workload so that sometimes they are apt not to care about if all students in classroom are listening them or not. If there are 3 or 4 students are listening they feel fortunate and satisfied.
Today is very hot outside, but, thank god, air-conditioner works very well so that the inside of the classroom is as cold as earlier wintry days. But the students look as tired as often.
“Please open your books, page 212.” the teacher`s voice come over from the front.
“Which page?” one of students asked her desk-mate.
“I didn’t hear the teacher clearly” replied the blond girl.
“Page 212” teacher`s voice come over again. “We are going to have discussion about education today. I think you have prepared well in advance.”
No one replied with “yes” to the teacher. All heads lowered. But the teacher still looks so confident. What can he do? The only thing he can do right now is to give the students some extra time to read the text.
“Well, then read the text very quickly, then we will discuss.” What could he do if the students didn’t prepare lesson before class, especially in a university`s classroom? The only thing he has to do is to finish his workload, to try in earnest to do what a teacher usually should do even though it means being bored, being alone…
Classrooms should be very noisy with hot discussions in which all students and teachers involve. On contrary, the classrooms are as clam as a dead lake, no more rushing water, no more singing birds; there is only dirty and stinky water in it, and of course, there are big fishes indeed. The teacher is just like a fish keeper: he is patient enough; he has to bear with that bad smell coming from the dead lake; he has to clean up the water even if it takes a long, very long time to clean it up because there are big fishes. The fish keeper is here with that unearthly patience for keeping them because he is the fish keeper, not the fisherman. But the fat fishes, lazy fishes tend to not cooperate with the fish keeper: they are so lazy as to not eat what the keeper gives them; they are so blind as to not follow the keeper`s guide. But the fish keeper has to keep his patience.
“Ok, I guess you have finished reading the text. How did you feel after finished reading this text? What are some thoughts that came into your mind?” the teacher tries to let the students get rid of their quietness. But most of the time it doesn’t work well. The students usually take their time and keep quiet as if somebody have told them to do so, but no one, except themselves, have told them to do so. Then the teacher again has to ask another question.
“Well, it is very free question, I think, you can talk whatever you thought. Anyway, the author gave us some analogies about teachers. Which of these do you think are apt analogies?”
Again no one responded. They are looking down on their books or their cellphones, searching for answers through the text book, or checking the massages they have got in their WeChat, the “hearts” they have got on their Instagram. Again the teacher really has to call somebody to answer his question.
“Mr.Seven,”
“Yes.”
“What do you think?”
“Sorry, I don’t understand, could you please repeat the question?”
“Hm, forget it, I will call another student.”
“Lucy, which of these analogies do you think are apt analogies?”
After one minute silence said Lucy: “I … I don’t know.”
“Well, let me give some….” When the teacher himself has begun to start talking himself, the ring started to ring. It means the class is over, it is time to have a short break. It also means for the students to break their one hour quietness to relief themselves.
“OK, have a break, we will continue our discussion after the break.”
The class is over. It seemed that long lasted boring class and long silence are gone for a short time. And the teacher still looks very confident.
