Recently a Sp teacher subbed for me. I had written a brief instruction on the board for him in Spanish. When I saw him next I asked him if he had seen the note. Yes, he said, and had asked the students if they knew what it said. No, they didn’t, he said, and then immediately backtracked as if joking and said, yeah, they had understood it.
My observation is that this is how so many teachers react to kids, as if to say, no, these dummies aren’t going to know anything. Then they have to quickly erase what they said, esp if you don’t respond positively to it, and say, no, no, just kidding. It reminds me so much of the b.s. you engaged in all the time working as a busboy; everybody busted every one else’s balls. It was constant and boring as all get out. Same in teaching: teacher lounge talk. Gad, I’m glad I’m retiring.