I have decided that one’s over all thoughts on education and
the purpose of it stay somewhat the same.
However, your purpose in being a teacher may change depending on the
students you are working with. The
first time I wrote a ‘philosophies of teaching’ essay, my overall goal was to
inspire a love of learning in my students.
I still agree with this, but I also feel that my main goal with the
students I work with is to make sure they feel important and know that they can
succeed regardless of what they are told.
In reality, there are a lot of kids of all ages that don’t feel that
they are important. As teachers, we are
typically with our students more than their parents are. If they don’t feel important, we have a good
amount of time in a day to “address” this, if you will. I try everyday to directly acknowledge each
one of my students so they know they matter to me.
My aims in my classroom are to create a safe and unbiased
learning environment. High school
students are typically going to make fun of each other; kids in general make
fun of each other. I get that. My friends and I gave each other a hard
time. I do think that there is a HUGE
difference between being down right cruel and demeaning and giving each other a
hard time. There are boundaries, and I
constantly discuss these boundaries with my students. I constantly tell them to be nice etc (mostly in the hall). They have learned that in my classroom no
question and no one is stupid and that if they are worried about asking a
question they can write it down and put it on my desk and I will address it the
next day. I think it is highly highly
important for students to feel comfortable in their learning environment, so
that’s one of my major goals for my classroom.
Football… hmmm…
Haven’t really been able to keep up with football this year… Let’s go with 24-31 Giants….
How interesting. I have not been teaching long and my decision to become a teacher happened fairly recently as well. I had not really considered that my purpose for teaching would ever change but your blog has made me rethink this. With experience I can see how different issues may become so prevalent that my purpose could shift. Being a teacher entails much more than passing down knowledge to your students. I think you post really points out the other really important responsibilities I will face.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of confidential written questions in your classroom. One of the many problems with teasing is that it hinders education by making students afraid to ask questions. Often the so-called stupid questions have layers of complexity. I could ask, for example, "What is space?" and some people might laugh at my ignorance. But a philosopher or a physicist would take that question very seriously.
ReplyDeleteWhen you wrote, "there are a lot of kids of all ages that don’t feel that they are important," I remembered something I learned while substituting in a Health class last week. Apparently suicide is the third most common cause of death among teenagers. What a terrible statistic! Young people do need to know how important they are. How can this be done? Is the suicide problem a reaction to the lack of spiritual fulfillment in modern American society?
Hi Brecque, I love the idea of accepting confidential questions from students and addressing them the next day in class. That's a really great idea, and it's yet another way that you are showing your own students that you care about them and value them as learners.
ReplyDeleteRegarding my PP of Ed staying somewhat the same, unlike you, I'm experiencing something a bit different. I'm continuously revising my views regarding why I want to teach and what I hope to accomplish with my students, etc. I hadn't carefully thought about those things (specifically) before starting the ATL program. Instead, I had had this vague idea that I might have something to offer as a teacher, that I enjoyed the experiences I had had teaching adults, and that now was the time for me to "give something back" -- so I'd best learn how to be a better teacher. I'm now learning that central to that (becoming a better teacher) is knowing what you believe and mapping out a plan to achieve it.
I enjoyed speaking with you a few weeks back during and after class about your "adventures in teaching." Actually, our conversation had such an impact that I blogged about it and entitled it "Travel," because you brought me to a new and wondrous place when you told me about teaching in Cuba. (http://svanbenthem2250.blogspot.com)
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned then your goal of making sure your students know they are important and matter. I also think this is of key importance...more important than sharing a few facts and figures.
I agree that is extremely important to feed self perception in the life of every student. Many teachers have a very poor communication with their students. There are many teachers too that are great communicators and do not limit themselves to delivering the content. Even though it is difficult to keep track of the emotional needs of the students when we are held accountable for an incredibly huge amount of information that needs to be covered, I do think that we all need to be aware of the context of the student and his or her life. ... Glad the Giants won!
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