When I think about what I will be like as a teacher, I would like to think that I would do anything for my future students. I want to think that I will try different ways to reach my students when they don't seem to be grasping what I am trying to teach. I want to think that I won't stop trying when my students want to give up. I want to do all these things when I become a teacher, but when I look at teachers that I know and teachers that I have had, I don't see this all the time. It makes me draw the conclusion that it is not easy to do these things. If it was then every teacher would be doing it. In the reading "I Won't Learn From You!" by Herbert Kohl, he talked about a student who purposefully tried not read when teachers told him. He would throw a temper tantrum when asked and this made the teachers not want to deal with him. He noticed that him throwing tantrums resulted in him not having to read. The author talked about the lengths he went to get him to read more using a tactic that was tailored just for him. He talked about how he watched the student and the interactions he had with other students. He paid attention to him. This part of the reading stuck out to me because the teacher had to really focus on the student to know what actions he should take to get him to read. He had to to be patient with him and be consistent with his efforts. This was a good example of what a teacher is willing to do to educate a child. The story reaffirmed the thoughts and ideas in my head of what I am willing to do to educate all children. I want to be that teacher who doesn't stop trying to reach their students until they have exhausted every option. I want to make sure my students feel comfortable that they can learn in a safe space in my classroom. I want to learn about my students and how I can tailor my lessons to them. To do this I have to be honest with my students and let them know that I am there for them for whatever they need whether it be school related or not. I have to listen to them when they don't understand something and figure out why. I have to realize that I don't know everything and have to continue to learn new things that will help my students. To me that is one of the most important things do. To continue to educate myself and learn from different perspectives and experiences. The more that I learn, the better I can teach my students.
Hi Sydney!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved your post and think you worded this so well. I also think that the picture you added fits perfectly with the question we were asked this week. As an educator is so so hard to overcome these struggles, especially with younger students. Every child is worthy of a great education and we must go to any length possible to give them that, no matter how hard it might be. I like how you said you wanted to be honest with your students and support their issues school related or not. I think that is one of the most important things, we see our students 5 days a week, 8 hours a day. We know them almost as well as their parents do! Establishing that connection with them and letting them know we are here for them allows them to be more comfortable with us and potentially open up to us with all their problems and that is the key. Good communication between the teacher and student, to get to the root of the problem and learn how to fix it. Great post!
-Catarina
Hi Sydney! I love that you started this blog with i bunch of "I want" statements . I think it is important to plan how we want to teach our students but also realize those wants we have to make happen ourselves. I see that you realize that some days those wants might not be possible but other days you might be the teacher that does all of those things. Its important to remember that teachers are humans too and in a way they are super heros but some days are harder than others. I loved that you talked about that story! I think sometimes people who are not in the education field think teachers have it easy but that is so wrong. Kids are humans too they are going to have melt downs or not want to do something, and it is the teachers job it fix it. As teachers we have to make sure that students are learning in the best way possible. If a students refuses to do something time and time again then the teacher might need to alter that lesson. Even if it is one student we as future educators can not have one student not getting the education they need.
ReplyDeleteHi Sydney,
ReplyDeleteI really felt like I could connect with you personally from reading this post. I also cannot help but think about teacher's i've had in the past while trying to learn about how to become a teacher myself. I can think of some instances where my teachers weren't performing the things that we're learning. It all comes down to the lengths that the educator is willing to go for a students understanding of a lesson. I think that getting to know the student is a really important part of educating in general. While there may be some students that grasp specific content really well, there may be others that struggle in that kind of content. As this will be a recurring situation that happens every year, it's important to get into the habit of getting to know our students personally in order to teach them in specific ways that will help them grow as a student.
Hi Sydney
ReplyDeleteI feel as if I am the same way, I want to believe that in my future classroom I will always do what I can to make sure students succeed, but as I learn more about the way most teachers teach, I also begin to realize it is not as easy as it seems, especially upon understanding the idea that some students may just not want to learn the subject that they're being taught. It then becomes a problem not of whether or not they understand, but it would then become an issue within why they are refusing to participate or acknowledge the topic being talked about. Before I learned about this, I believed that doing whatever you possibly could to educate a student consisted of just trying different approaches, styles, or ways of delivery were the only options I needed, assuming that they'd learn within one of those methods. I now realize that doing whatever you can to educate your students can be much more.