Growth requires stress. Even plants need certain stressors to produce to their fullest capacity. In many cases, the natural world delivers all the stress and adversity we need. Sometimes too much. But it is interesting to think of the role of a teacher as an agitator, an adversary. None of us want mean teachers who belittle or attack us. But it could be that there is something beneficial in providing a little pushback, in being that thing that drives students forward.

On the one hand, you could be a unifying force for the class. We all buy into the Us vs. Them stuff somewhat. I think a lot of us TA’s want to think of ourselves as in the Us camp. We’re on our student’s side. I talked in my class yesterday about how many of my students were feeling stressed and behind right now, and I asked them if there was anything I could do to help relieve that stress. Oh, it’s not this class they assured me. And I was relieved in the moment. I don’t want to be their adversary, their harsh taskmaster.

But, I also want to encourage growth. I’ve wondered before if my laxity around deadlines is a hindrance. Sure, they might like me more for being “easy” but will they learn more? I honestly don’t know what makes for effective teaching. I keep asking the question, and I don’t know that I get any closer.

As we began talking about the WebText, my students were asking me if they could just recycle the sections of their posters, maybe beef them up a little. I told them could, that they might satisfy the rubric and get a complete, but that I would find it boring. One student said, “but boring isn’t on the rubric.” No it is not, I told them, and I’ve given completes and written comments about how I didn’t like some of the work before. “Yeah you have,” they said. And I could tell that my words had stung more than one student. I don’t know how to feel about that.

In some ways, I can’t help being adversarial. People call me arrogant, dismissive, insensitive. This kind of abrasive behavior is never my intention, but I am not very good at dissembling. I tend to say what I’m thinking. And I judge my own work very critically. Not everyone wants to hear those judgements though.

I hope that my comments to my students have been helpful and not too harsh. Maybe it is good though that they made an impact. That I told them when I could see that they didn’t take the project seriously. That they could do more with their energy, their talents. Maybe this kind of adversarial position drives them forward. Or maybe it doesn’t.

How do we ever really know?