This makes me think of the teacher myth about the story of the fifth grade
teacher with the difficult, unlikeable boy. In the beginning of this
tale, she "delights in writing an 'F' on the top of his paper." Because
she is overworked, it's November before she reads his file and the teacher
comments from past years.
Then she learns that his mother died and his father consequently withdrew
from him.
Here the boy instantly stops being unlikeable and becomes endearing and in
need of a little care and concern.
So she honors the broken, gaudy piece of jewelry and the almost empty
bottle of cologne he gives her for a Christmas gift. She cries when he
tells her that she "smells just like my mom used to." So do many of the
women in the rooms where I've heard this told.
The boy, of course (this is a myth after all, and very popular-I've heard
it twice in the last semester)begins to excell and get good grades. He
ends up finishing medical school and asks the teacher to come to the
wedding and "sit in the seat reserved for the groom's mother."
This folk tale/myth reveals a lot about teachers' values and beleifs, but
reverse causality, teacher/student relationship, affective learning,
prolepsis-I think they're all embedded.
Kathie
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Life's backwards,
Life's backwards,
People, turn around.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Sinead O'Connor and John Reynolds
Fire on Babylon: Universal Mother^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Katherine_Goff who-is-at ceo.cudenver.edu
http://ouray.cudenver.edu/~kegoff/index.html