What's in a Name?

I woke up with my right eye throbbing, so I decided to forgo eyeshadow and mascara and wear glasses today instead of contact lenses. (I hope I'm not getting a stye!)

Little did I know the uproar this would cause in my students.

"Ohmigod, Miss, you got glasses?!"

"Wow, hot for teacher!"

"Ohmigod, Miss, you wear glasses?!"

These are a few of the choice statements I got from my classes today. And here's an informal survey: Did you call your teacher "Miss" when you were in school? I've never heard of this phenomenon before. I always called my teachers by their full, respectful name. It was always Mr. Lesperance, never "Mister." Always "Miss Flutie," never "Miss."

Maybe it's a generational thing. I don't know. All I know is I try to make my students call me by my full name. It's only fair -- they've only got 8 teachers while I teach 168 students. If I can remember their names, then they can remember mine.

Ow, my eye hurts. At least I have a planning period now in last block and don't have to hear "Ohmigod, Miss!" again until tomorrow.

8 comment(s):

eldesaparecido said...

Yah it was always "Ms./ Mr." for me. If they had a funky name then they earned "Ms. _____/ Mr. _____".

g2 (la pianista irlandesa) said...

perhaps I'm out of the generational loop... The only teacher I address by "title" only is my Spanish teacher... And that's only because "seƱora" is a bit of a quick mouthful by itself.

ElshaHawk said...

I haven't had that experience, but it's a pet peeve of mine when kids say Miss instead of Mrs. when the teacher is married. And as for my students, they call me Mrs. S. because my last name is hard to say.
And that comes out, "miss s" grr...
But I try hard to ignore it!

OrangeOreos said...

Haha! "Wow, hot for teacher!"

We call our chemistry teacher Peaches, or Marcotte. And we call the rest of our teachers just by their last name (Durbin, Campbell, etc)...
Looks like my class is exactly the opposite...

Marc said...

My girlfriend is a high school teacher and she started biking to work last fall. She found it easier to wear a headband to keep her hair in order underneath her bike helmet and oh my, the uproar that caused.

She always tells me, 'kids just don't like change' and it's so true.

That's why she got her nose stud in the summer - doing it during the year would have caused a classroom scandal haha.

But to answer your survey - she teaches French, so her students call her Madam (last name).

Busy Bee Lauren said...

That is totally weird. I always called them by their full name.

I am most intrigued that you had a teacher named : "Mr. Lesperance". I had one as well!

Unknown said...

My French teacher was named Monsieur Lesperance. Was he your French teacher, too?!

Nancy Face said...

Seriously? They just call you MISS? That is just weird. :S

I hope your eye feels better by now!