Read and reflect on I Peter 2:4-10
How will your life as a teacher honor God’s love for you and all that He has given you?
My life as a teacher will honor God's love for me because I believe that we are called to serve others just as Jesus served us. If I wanted to live my life for myself I could get a better paying job and probably be very wealthy. My brother is a civil engineer and makes an absurd amount of money for basically doing math problems all day. My brother and I are both excellent at math and it was always my best subject. I could have followed that same path but I feel that it is necessary to give something back to society. I believe teaching students about how great this country is and giving them the background information necessary to be able to understand how complex the world they live in is an important skill that they need to have. On top of the need for them to know their history, I really love being with the students. Some days student teaching I remember thinking I wish I didn't have to teach a certain lesson because I know it is pretty irrelevant (15 minutes of valuable class time on Warren G. Harding?). I felt that the day would be better served just getting to know about the students and having them voice their opinions about how they view the world but I know that isn't possible (especially while student teaching). I believe that of the many gifts God has given me, one of the best gifts is the ability to connect with people. When talking with my master teacher and my good friend who is a teacher at the same school I would always say how fun and easy teaching is and they assure me that many people have a difficult time with people and they never really get better at it. Now that I have student taught I am 100% certain that teaching is the right profession for me and I can't wait to get a job and have my own class!
Monday, January 23, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
How can you create relational trust in an educational setting?
How can you create relational trust in an educational setting?
You can create trust in an educational setting by connecting with kids on a personal level. If you take an interest in them as people, they will not only trust you, but they will much more receptive to what you have to say because they respect you as a person. Teachers are not there to be dispensers of information. The internet could do that. If the goal of teachers was simply to learn the standards they could all sit in their homes and do that. The teacher is there to connect with the students, and if you connect with students they will trust you. I could list 1,000 ways to do that but a few that I like to do are ask them what other teachers they have and ask if they like those teachers, why or why not, what type of assignments they give out etc. The students know that I am also still a student so it is very easy for us to relate to one another on that level. I also make it very clear that I am on their side when I say things like saying that I won't give out homework on the weekends and only try to do it two days a week. You build that trust by relating and caring about your students.
You can create trust in an educational setting by connecting with kids on a personal level. If you take an interest in them as people, they will not only trust you, but they will much more receptive to what you have to say because they respect you as a person. Teachers are not there to be dispensers of information. The internet could do that. If the goal of teachers was simply to learn the standards they could all sit in their homes and do that. The teacher is there to connect with the students, and if you connect with students they will trust you. I could list 1,000 ways to do that but a few that I like to do are ask them what other teachers they have and ask if they like those teachers, why or why not, what type of assignments they give out etc. The students know that I am also still a student so it is very easy for us to relate to one another on that level. I also make it very clear that I am on their side when I say things like saying that I won't give out homework on the weekends and only try to do it two days a week. You build that trust by relating and caring about your students.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Blog topic #7
How can we use our undivided self to reform education so that all are honored?
We can use our undivided self to reform education by understanding that all students are different and therefore have different needs. I think it is foolish to have a set of standards that all students have to be accountable toward. Some students come from poor backgrounds or don't speak the language as their first language. How can they possibly expect to compete with students who come from affluent backgrounds and have had every advantage in life? There has to be some sort of accountability though because teaching is a profession that is very difficult to oversee and measure. If there is no measuring stick it becomes difficult to get rid of bad teachers. Firing bad teachers should be easier, but not so easy that a principal can indiscriminately get rid of teachers they don't like. I think standards have been implemented to get rid of bad teachers and bad schools, so their hearts are in the right place, but I feel they are not the answer. What is the answer? I cannot say for sure because I have not been teaching that long. What I can say is that in my own class if i teach the students in a way that includes everyone and recognizes that they have different backgrounds, abilities, motivations, and talents and do my best to make sure everyone succeeds. "Success" is also a vague term. For some students, a 'B' in a class would be a disappointment, and for others, a huge success. You have to take the accomplishments of a students on a case by case basis. That is the heart of good teaching. Not universal standards.
We can use our undivided self to reform education by understanding that all students are different and therefore have different needs. I think it is foolish to have a set of standards that all students have to be accountable toward. Some students come from poor backgrounds or don't speak the language as their first language. How can they possibly expect to compete with students who come from affluent backgrounds and have had every advantage in life? There has to be some sort of accountability though because teaching is a profession that is very difficult to oversee and measure. If there is no measuring stick it becomes difficult to get rid of bad teachers. Firing bad teachers should be easier, but not so easy that a principal can indiscriminately get rid of teachers they don't like. I think standards have been implemented to get rid of bad teachers and bad schools, so their hearts are in the right place, but I feel they are not the answer. What is the answer? I cannot say for sure because I have not been teaching that long. What I can say is that in my own class if i teach the students in a way that includes everyone and recognizes that they have different backgrounds, abilities, motivations, and talents and do my best to make sure everyone succeeds. "Success" is also a vague term. For some students, a 'B' in a class would be a disappointment, and for others, a huge success. You have to take the accomplishments of a students on a case by case basis. That is the heart of good teaching. Not universal standards.
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