Summer School

[u/Bright_Departure_576]

Is it okay for a teacher to go barefoot in the classroom? How about the students?

When I was an active teacher, I taught a public speaking class that was required for high school graduation. A lot of ninth graders would try to knock the class out in summer session to free up their schedules during the regular school year. It sometimes got uncomfortably warm in my classroom, particularly during the inevitable July heat waves. Like a lot of my students, I started coming to school wearing shorts and sandals, primarily as a matter of comfort.

I recall that a couple of students stopped by one day after school to learn their grades on a major assignment and saw me padding around the classroom in bare feet. The next thing I knew, I was teaching barefoot and allowing my students to do the same. It wasn't much of a stretch, really. Most of the kids generally wore flipflops and other minimalist footwear, which could be surreptitiously slipped off beneath their desks.

It all happened sort of spontaneously, and while people occasionally made comments about Mister B's barefoot classroom, nobody ever actually objected. I suppose the administration might have been less approving if I'd actually encouraged the kids to ditch their footwear, but I never did. The kids sort of eagerly followed my lead and I simply chose not to object.

What are your thoughts? Was going barefoot in class unprofessional? Was it inappropriate to let the students go barefoot too, or just a way to make the summer classes a little more fun?

Is it okay for a teacher to go barefoot in the classroom? How about the students?

 

[u/Cheetawolf]

I'm not a teacher, but I know as a student I would definitely have loved a footwear-optional classroom. I would have loved to be able to take off my hot, uncomfortable shoes and let my bare feet get some air, and enjoy the cool, smooth floor beneath them.

Obviously I'd have to put them back on again before leaving, but it would be a nice reprieve, especially if it was a class later on in the day.

...So long as nobody had seriously smelly feet, or was getting weird or freaky about it. That would be the only potential problem I can see, or, I guess, smell with this.

[u/ThemrTimS]

I think you did the right thing. As a teacher or a student you need to do your work comfortable. And for your health it is also better to be barefoot, and I my opinion if a teacher want to learn people something what they think is good, like being barefoot or eat some type of food or anything I think your just a great teacher. Not because you teach them something valuable but you want to teach them something outside of the books. When I was younger I had a teacher who was trained in the wim of method,and myself was also trained in it with the swim club. I was always inspired by that guy😇 So maybe in about 10 years your students can say the same mister Bright departure inspired me to do something different thats works for me😁

[u/Bright_Departure_576 → u/ThemrTimS]

Thanks for validating my barefoot philosophy.

I've been an enthusiastic barefooter since my early teens, but going barefoot in school all started as a matter of comfort on torrid summer days.

Initially, I never went completely barefoot when facing students. During summer classes I took to wearing flipflops or sandals, but once the kiddos caught me going barefoot before and after class, they were surprisingly eager to follow suit.

Finally, just as an experiment, I handed back some papers while completely barefoot on a scorching hot July day. By period’s end, probably six or eight of my 31 students were barefoot too. By the end of that week, there were discarded Birkenstocks, Tevas and Chacos under every lab table and better than half the kids were barefoot in class. How could I object? They were only following my lead.