Worst Teacher Ever?

During this semester of student teaching, I want to respond to a series of questions that they handed us on orientation day. I feel that this will be a good exercise in self-discovery.

The first question is:
If a student said she thought you were the worst teacher she ever had, what would you say?

Actually, something similar to this happened during a lesson I taught once. I was trying to teach 10th graders summarizing skills. I thought I would make it fun by having them trace their hand and write the main idea on the palm and the supporting details on their fingers. I had the class reading magazine articles for this assignment. Most of the class was confused by the project and I had to repeat my directions several times. Finally, one girl said: "You're a bad teacher."

My heart fell. Those were words I never wanted to hear from a student. I had worked so hard to make an activity that wasn't boring or routine and she had thrown it up in my face like it was filth. I scowled at her and told her she was rude and to continue working.

I went home and thought about the lesson that afternoon. She was rude to say it. But I needed to have more classroom management and preparation in order to pull that lesson off.

Of course my response to a student calling me a bad teacher would vary on circumstance, but I think that my initial reaction would be to reflect on my behavior and the lessons I had planned and think about whether they were meeting the needs of my students.