Can't please everyone

One of the hardest things about teaching is not taking feedback too personally. We all hate being criticized or put down. Everyone has different takes on classes, likes different things, opinions. Which is great. If we all were in the same mind set life would be very boring wouldn't it. The trick is to extract what you need, take note and use the feedback positively.

I'm writing about this as I had some feedback last week that made me mentally say "really?" Usually students have something to say about the heat. It's the biggest hang up as a student. "Was it hotter today? What was the humidity? Oh it was really hot today!" Like a well behaved robot I usually answer with the bog standard, "It's not hot, you're hot!" or "no, no, same as usual," which it usually is, I don't like lying. 

If I think the heat is off the scale I try my best to get it back to normal, we teachers have our ways. There are some clear signs when it might be getting a little tough. I'm getting pretty clued up on the body language as to when people 'think' they need some air circulation or 'actually' do. If a student yells out "we need air" all the more reason not to give into demands - kinda like a hostage situation!!! Don't get me wrong I'm not mean or anything, I don't want people to pass out but it's not up to the student to dictate, it's part of the challenge. Mind over the matter. 

Anyway the feedback from last week. A student complained there was TOO MUCH fresh air coming in. A few weeks ago my mentor made a point in one of my classes I was killing them, no enough air & pointed out the signs to spot. This has made me very conscious of reading the signs. The energy was great, my six newbies were rocking so I wanted to keep it up therefore I may have been generous with the air. The point of the air we have here is to get the circulation going so students can breath, it does not cool the room down. If you're directly under the vent it may feel a touch chilly. No one else complained it was too cold, the students actually looked quite jolly leaving, instead of dragging their sorry selves to the car park. 

I tried not to take it too personally, you can't please everyone. It was however refreshing (excuse the pun) to not hear a feedback about the heat!!