One thing that I have really thought a lot about this week was the poems that we read last week. First of all, I find it fascinating how very diverse of a group of people we are and how each of us came from an entirely unique walk of life. The other thing that I have been thinking about was the nerves I had regarding this assignment. I am normally a person who does not often get anxious about reading aloud or even sharing personal details about myself, but for some reason, with this assignment, I got very anxious and nervous when it came time to read it. What this has made me think about is what we, as teachers, will ask our students to do, and whether or not we would feel comfortable doing these things if we were in their positions. I think that it is important to keep in mind that students may have a fear of a certain assignment or task and this can negatively affect the way they approach an assignment or the effort they put into the assignment.
Another thing that I thought a lot about after class on Wednesday was how to best deal with kids when each are so unique in their needs. As this quarter has progressed I have begun to realize that I do not need all of the answers immediately and that not all tricks and tactics will even work with each student or each situation. One of the key ideas that was brought up last week was that there is no one correct way to deal with all of the classroom issues that are sure to arise, but rather it is important to create a set of tools to choose from depending on the students and circumstances. I am confident that this collection will grow along with my experience and time in the classroom. I can remember one time when I was working in a classroom and I had two students who had a lot of trouble getting along. The teacher attempted to put them in a group together in order to teach them to work out their problems. This did not work out how the teacher had planned and the two students spent a bit of time working independently with me after they fought. In order to effectively deal with the situation I had to handle each kids uniquely. One kid needed more freedom to work off his anger where the other kid required much more focus and wanted to spend time working through his problem with me. This is just one example, of many, where I experienced having to use different tactics to handle a common problem between multiple students.
This idea of what a child needs and how important it is to teach according is really pointed out in the Hargreaves article. This article discusses another issue that I have been thinking a lot about since I have decided to become a teacher. Emotions and being emotionally involved in my students, in my opinion, is a huge aspect of school that is often times over looked. This article does a good job of covering the aspects of this topic. A great description that was used to explain good teachers was that “they are emotional, passionate beings who connect with their students and fill their work and their classes with pleasure, creativity, challenge, and joy” (P. 835). They go on to explain how the “cognitive scaffolding of concepts and teaching strategies are held together with emotional bonds” (P. 835). I have always felt like one of my strongest attributes as a teacher will be the ability to connect with people emotionally but I have never found evidence of the true benefits until this article.
There is one part of this week’s reading that has me feeling a bit nervous. I realize that it is very important to have a good understanding of your students in order to be able to effectively educate them, but I have begun to notice that this will be a lot harder than I had originally thought, especially after reading the Hargreaves article. The idea of spurious emotionality is mentioned and this has me thinking. Hargreaves explains this type of emotion as something that happens when a person mistakes their feelings for the feelings of someone else. I can definitely see how being a teacher who assumes or interprets their students feelings for simply the feelings they are having can create a false relationship. A teacher must remain open to the student’s interpretations of their own feelings and opinions in order to have a true understand and emotional connection. My main problem with this, like so many other natural human habits, is that spurious emotionality seems like a characteristic that all people have and exists and may be very hard to recognize, let alone deal with in my classroom.
The last thing that I was thinking about this week that was explored in the reading was the idea of my position and my power. The Raywid article starts off by using an explanation of how teachers often feel subordinate to higher positions in the school system, which is exactly how I have been feeling up to this point. She explains how teacher often “see themselves as relatively powerless- in relation to the negative external forces against them” (P. 78). I was very enlightened to read on and find that in fact teachers do have a lot of power in the classroom and at their place of work. I guess I have always know, just never realized, but teachers do have a lot of impact on how their classroom is run, organized, how the class atmosphere is, what and how the students learn, and much more.
Overall, this week along with the readings and the class discussions have made me realize that I will be a huge influence to my students and that emotional connections are essential in all aspects of teaching. I have also had a chance to reflect on how much influence I have had on students in classrooms just as a visitor. I cannot hardly wait to get my classroom and start experiencing all of these relationships.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
WWKD: What Would Kids Do
Wow! This week gave me a lot to ponder on. The conversation that we had in class on Wednesday night about religion in the classroom really got me thinking. First thing that I realized was that the subject was especially touchy to people who have great interest in religion. I, myself, am not a very religious person and therefore find that I am not as extreme about my opinion on this topic as other people are. Just in conversations that I have had outside of the classroom I have noticed a trend which is: parents who are religious seem to have a stronger opinion on what is being taught to their children. A great friend of mine is Jewish and him and his family practice Judaism. He was very opposed to his children receiving education about religion in the classroom even the teaching of his own religion. He even argues that the teaching of history should be done so without any reference to religion at all. On the other hand, a few of my other friends who are not religious in the same intensity said that they would not mind it if their children were to be educated on the facts of religion and how religion plays into our society. One common argument was that it would never be alright for teachers (or any authority) to try to manipulate their student’s freedom of choice. Something I found interesting was that a few of my friends made the argument that because they are not religious they do not know how to teach their children about the influential aspects of religion, aspects that they all agreed are important to a complete understanding of our world.
There is one tiff that I feel a bit obligated to make in this blog entry and that is the extreme link between religion and state that we cannot seem to break. I realize that religion is a huge part of American culture and that it has made huge impacts on our history, which I agree are important to teach about, but I continue asking myself why is it that we cannot teach the facts of religion and the truth about state without being offensive? Our society has put these two topics together and therefore it seems necessary to teach both in order to teach either. It is also important to point out that religion is not the only are where parents become offended and where teachers can overstep there influential boundaries.
Teachers have to be working towards helping their children become able to formulate their own opinions and beliefs. I really enjoyed the example that was used in the Ayers reading with the anti-bias library. I have always said that I will strive to raise my own children with as many options and experiences as I can find to fit into their lives. I have realized through my own life that it only takes one short reading or article to spark my interest enough for further investigation and discovery. In my classroom, I can see it being really beneficial to provide an area where my students can make new discoveries and maybe find something that can become of special interest to them. I will strive to set up an area for further knowledge and help them realize that learning can be fun and interesting.
I think another aspect of making school interesting to kids is to allow them a choice in what they learn and how they will do this. It would be very beneficial to allow and even request class involvement in planning curriculum and designing their learning. Kids should get a choice in what they study, what they read, and the projects they complete. I also think, like Ayers, that it should pertain to their lives. I would make the bold argument that people learn the best when learning about something that is significant in their lives, in which they find applicable to their surroundings. As a professional, I realize that it will be up to me to make learning relevant to my students.
This argument takes me in a complete circle back to my previous concerns about how schools and teachers have so much restrictions coming from higher up authority. I am having a hard time understanding how teachers are supposed to make such an influence on their students when all of these critical lessons will be so hard to incorporate in their daily lesson plans. Or will they? In my opinion teachers should be allowed to create whatever learning experience they see fit for their students. Having the credentials to be a teacher should give them enough authority to make these types of choices. However, I understand they should be able to meet certain requirements. One specific one is mentioned in Ayers: being able to “demonstrate to colleges and the wider school community that what they are teaching is legitimate and worthwhile” (Ayers, P. 93).
One quote that really stuck with me from this week’s reading was that “there is no ‘teacher proof’ curriculum that will humanize and energize the classroom of a deadly dull teacher” (Ayers, P. 87). I must remember that the excitement in my classroom cannot be falsified; I must be genuine in my enthusiasm and charisma. I hope to have as much compassion for my students as Vivian Paley discusses in “You Can’t Say You Can’t Play”. The amount of detail that goes into the success of each student is admirable.
There is one tiff that I feel a bit obligated to make in this blog entry and that is the extreme link between religion and state that we cannot seem to break. I realize that religion is a huge part of American culture and that it has made huge impacts on our history, which I agree are important to teach about, but I continue asking myself why is it that we cannot teach the facts of religion and the truth about state without being offensive? Our society has put these two topics together and therefore it seems necessary to teach both in order to teach either. It is also important to point out that religion is not the only are where parents become offended and where teachers can overstep there influential boundaries.
Teachers have to be working towards helping their children become able to formulate their own opinions and beliefs. I really enjoyed the example that was used in the Ayers reading with the anti-bias library. I have always said that I will strive to raise my own children with as many options and experiences as I can find to fit into their lives. I have realized through my own life that it only takes one short reading or article to spark my interest enough for further investigation and discovery. In my classroom, I can see it being really beneficial to provide an area where my students can make new discoveries and maybe find something that can become of special interest to them. I will strive to set up an area for further knowledge and help them realize that learning can be fun and interesting.
I think another aspect of making school interesting to kids is to allow them a choice in what they learn and how they will do this. It would be very beneficial to allow and even request class involvement in planning curriculum and designing their learning. Kids should get a choice in what they study, what they read, and the projects they complete. I also think, like Ayers, that it should pertain to their lives. I would make the bold argument that people learn the best when learning about something that is significant in their lives, in which they find applicable to their surroundings. As a professional, I realize that it will be up to me to make learning relevant to my students.
This argument takes me in a complete circle back to my previous concerns about how schools and teachers have so much restrictions coming from higher up authority. I am having a hard time understanding how teachers are supposed to make such an influence on their students when all of these critical lessons will be so hard to incorporate in their daily lesson plans. Or will they? In my opinion teachers should be allowed to create whatever learning experience they see fit for their students. Having the credentials to be a teacher should give them enough authority to make these types of choices. However, I understand they should be able to meet certain requirements. One specific one is mentioned in Ayers: being able to “demonstrate to colleges and the wider school community that what they are teaching is legitimate and worthwhile” (Ayers, P. 93).
One quote that really stuck with me from this week’s reading was that “there is no ‘teacher proof’ curriculum that will humanize and energize the classroom of a deadly dull teacher” (Ayers, P. 87). I must remember that the excitement in my classroom cannot be falsified; I must be genuine in my enthusiasm and charisma. I hope to have as much compassion for my students as Vivian Paley discusses in “You Can’t Say You Can’t Play”. The amount of detail that goes into the success of each student is admirable.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Complete Acceptance
This last week has made me think a lot about the setting I will be working in. The type of classroom I will create and how this will affect my students. The Sapon-Shevinopt article talks a great deal about building a strong community in the classroom and providing a safe environment where students feel comfortable to learn. This article points out that there has been little education available to teachers on this subject. It is obvious to me that providing a place where students feel free to be themselves and are able to overcome their weaknesses without shame is crucial for their success in school. When I think back to my own education, I remember quite a few times when I was too uncomfortable to ask questions for fear of humiliation, and therefore never received clarification. When I would go without asking questions, I would often times never completely learn the material. It would be a shame to allow this to go on in a classroom when there are things that can be done to promote a comfortable learning environment.
With the standards that are set for kids today it is important that us, as teachers, make every effort to set up an area for learning that is safe and comfortable. If a student is not comfortable in their class they will not fully engage in the learning process and this will significantly affect how well they do. I believe that all kids have a desire to be accepted and like to feel wanted. Throughout my life I have met a number of adults who have a pretty hard shell and are not easily affected by being disliked or put down, I have never seen this in a child. I think that what often happens is that a child will put up a hard wall after they have been teased or put down in some way and are now more vulnerable to harassment. This is often a cycle that the ‘weird’ or ‘dumb’ kids get caught up in. I find a great deal of inspiration in discovering things that these kids can do, skills and attributes that they have that can positively attribute to their class and their school. As a teacher, I will constantly be looking out for different talents and strengths my students have to offer. Sometimes I wish one of my teachers would have noticed that although I was poor at one thing I was very good at a number of other things.
I think an equally important issue in the classroom that must be acknowledged and dealt with is student-student interaction. Kids treating each other poorly is a huge problem in today’s society. Bullying, teasing, and abuse are all common problems in our schools today. In order for classrooms to become like a community, the relationships between the students must be dealt with. I am optimistic to say that all it takes is a bit of understanding between each of the students for them to see that everyone is not so different from one another and that all students have strengths and weaknesses. Along with wanting my students to feel good in the classroom with their peers, I too want to feel safe and confident teaching them. I am a bit nervous, especially with the older students, that they may be able to read through me or put me down for one of my faults. This will push me even harder to ensure that my classroom remains a community and a place where respected relationships exist.
As a teacher, I see one of my challenges being trying to make my students unite when the larger community surrounding my school might not. I have spent a little bit of time in schools where extreme socioeconomic differences exist, gangs are present, and other neighborhood conflicts exist. It is amazing how much of this is evident through even first and second graders. I remember one time when a second grader came to school, took off his coat and when he went to put it on the back of the chair he got really angry. He grabbed scissors and began to cut his coat. The teacher caught this quickly and asked him why he was doing this to his coat and he told her that it was because his blue coat had red on the inside of it and his dad didn’t like the color red because his color was blue.
I realize this week, while looking at school and classroom communities that students truly come from all walks of life. We had a discussion in class once about parent volunteers, and I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, but it is important to remember that not everyone lives the same life and what may seem life an easy task for one parent or person may be impossible for someone else. I am very passionate about allowing children to be themselves and not judge children or their families. Another thing that I will add to my ‘to do’ list for teaching will be to hole noting against my students until I know the whole story. This may sound a bit cheesy, but I watch the movie Blind Side this weekend and it really made me think. As a teacher of that student it would have been very easy to get angry with him for not having his homework completed, or disgusted by the fact that he wore the same outfit everyday and this would not have been my judgment to make. Nor would it have been any of the other student’s judgments to make. If all children were accepted the way he eventually was how would things be different? I keep coming back to the same thought: the smallest acceptance can have the hugest impact on a child’s life.
With the standards that are set for kids today it is important that us, as teachers, make every effort to set up an area for learning that is safe and comfortable. If a student is not comfortable in their class they will not fully engage in the learning process and this will significantly affect how well they do. I believe that all kids have a desire to be accepted and like to feel wanted. Throughout my life I have met a number of adults who have a pretty hard shell and are not easily affected by being disliked or put down, I have never seen this in a child. I think that what often happens is that a child will put up a hard wall after they have been teased or put down in some way and are now more vulnerable to harassment. This is often a cycle that the ‘weird’ or ‘dumb’ kids get caught up in. I find a great deal of inspiration in discovering things that these kids can do, skills and attributes that they have that can positively attribute to their class and their school. As a teacher, I will constantly be looking out for different talents and strengths my students have to offer. Sometimes I wish one of my teachers would have noticed that although I was poor at one thing I was very good at a number of other things.
I think an equally important issue in the classroom that must be acknowledged and dealt with is student-student interaction. Kids treating each other poorly is a huge problem in today’s society. Bullying, teasing, and abuse are all common problems in our schools today. In order for classrooms to become like a community, the relationships between the students must be dealt with. I am optimistic to say that all it takes is a bit of understanding between each of the students for them to see that everyone is not so different from one another and that all students have strengths and weaknesses. Along with wanting my students to feel good in the classroom with their peers, I too want to feel safe and confident teaching them. I am a bit nervous, especially with the older students, that they may be able to read through me or put me down for one of my faults. This will push me even harder to ensure that my classroom remains a community and a place where respected relationships exist.
As a teacher, I see one of my challenges being trying to make my students unite when the larger community surrounding my school might not. I have spent a little bit of time in schools where extreme socioeconomic differences exist, gangs are present, and other neighborhood conflicts exist. It is amazing how much of this is evident through even first and second graders. I remember one time when a second grader came to school, took off his coat and when he went to put it on the back of the chair he got really angry. He grabbed scissors and began to cut his coat. The teacher caught this quickly and asked him why he was doing this to his coat and he told her that it was because his blue coat had red on the inside of it and his dad didn’t like the color red because his color was blue.
I realize this week, while looking at school and classroom communities that students truly come from all walks of life. We had a discussion in class once about parent volunteers, and I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, but it is important to remember that not everyone lives the same life and what may seem life an easy task for one parent or person may be impossible for someone else. I am very passionate about allowing children to be themselves and not judge children or their families. Another thing that I will add to my ‘to do’ list for teaching will be to hole noting against my students until I know the whole story. This may sound a bit cheesy, but I watch the movie Blind Side this weekend and it really made me think. As a teacher of that student it would have been very easy to get angry with him for not having his homework completed, or disgusted by the fact that he wore the same outfit everyday and this would not have been my judgment to make. Nor would it have been any of the other student’s judgments to make. If all children were accepted the way he eventually was how would things be different? I keep coming back to the same thought: the smallest acceptance can have the hugest impact on a child’s life.
My Cultural Story
This week, as I continue on my path to becoming a teacher, I have had a lot to reflect on and ponder. First of all, I ask myself, what will my role as a professional be and how will I achieve this professionalism. I am confident that this class, as well as the rest of this program, will help me to have a better understanding of what role I will be playing and how it can most productively be played. The whole process this far has kept me a bit nervous about what is to come and has me a little flustered because I struggle with not having an organized trail of thoughts. With every issue that has come up in the readings and in class discussions, I remain confused and contradicted. I can almost always see the positives to the negative side and vice-versa, this has me all jumbled up. While I continue to struggle with this, I can also see that this may be beneficial in my career. In order to be a professional, I would argue that a person has to have the ability to see things in numerous ways, to be dynamic.
One of the issues that we read about this week discussed culture in the lives of the students. It has always been an interest to me how so many humans can come from such an array of dispositions and make up a community, society, country, neighborhood, etc. I think that it is important to remember that each and every person has their own culture and traditions and that they are all equally important in that child’s life. Just like the student’s that I will someday have, I also come from a particular life and have certain cultural characteristics that are equally important to me. Although it may be a bit difficult to accurately puzzle together all of my future students and create an environment where everyone feels equally accepted and important it will also be very exciting. I think that in my own experience I have learned the most about culture from firsthand accounts and experiences of those around me. I am eager to learn from my students as well as allow my students to learn from one another. I love the way Ayers puts it, “one person’s cultural common sense is another’s exotic behavior” (P. 76). I am excited to be able to teach children a lesson I was taught at a very young age which was: even though someone is different they are not better or worse.
My ideal class setting would be one in which I have students that have an array of cultures; combining these cultures will create a unique story. Together our class, made up of different cultures, will eventually make up a culture of their own. The way students will begin to interact between themselves as well as the way I, the teacher, will interact with them will be unique to my class. I have also come to understand that my classroom culture will change from year to year as my students change. With this, I will also be growing my garden of cultural experiences and understandings from year to year. I have done a number of things in my life that has forced me to look at life through a new lens and I have learned a huge amount from these experiences. I started elementary school in a classroom that was made up of half hearing impaired and deaf children and half hearing children like myself, I have lived in Australia and New Zealand, I spent two weeks of my time in Australia living with an aboriginal family where I experienced many of their customs and beliefs, and I have also taken part in a number of Lebanese rituals. This is one part of teaching that I can truly say I am excited to experience and learn from.
Another thing that I would like to discuss is a question that was brought up during class last week. We were all asked: ‘what aspects of schooling will affect me that I am not prepared for?’ This stirred up a lot in me. There are so many aspects of schooling that will affect me and, because my education has just begun, I feel like I am little prepared for any of them. I know that I will be dealing with all sorts of problems from dealing with parents to preparing for testing; I have not been officially taught how to deal with most of these situations yet but am confident this is what the program is for. Although I am confident that this program will help prepare me for my time in the classroom, I am also aware that there will always be times in my career where my best judgment will need to be used as well as relying on my colleagues for support.
I have been getting a bit caught up from time to time with the idea that I am not going to have all of the answers when I teach and that I could be responsible for ruining my student’s lives. I have begun to realize that I must remain confident and know that teaching will always be a work in progress. I have always thought of myself as a lifetime students and this is exactly what I will be. Going along with what I said before, I think that in order for me to be a professional teacher I must remain willing to work on my teaching styles, my interactions with my students, my leadership in my school and district, and most importantly myself.
One of the issues that we read about this week discussed culture in the lives of the students. It has always been an interest to me how so many humans can come from such an array of dispositions and make up a community, society, country, neighborhood, etc. I think that it is important to remember that each and every person has their own culture and traditions and that they are all equally important in that child’s life. Just like the student’s that I will someday have, I also come from a particular life and have certain cultural characteristics that are equally important to me. Although it may be a bit difficult to accurately puzzle together all of my future students and create an environment where everyone feels equally accepted and important it will also be very exciting. I think that in my own experience I have learned the most about culture from firsthand accounts and experiences of those around me. I am eager to learn from my students as well as allow my students to learn from one another. I love the way Ayers puts it, “one person’s cultural common sense is another’s exotic behavior” (P. 76). I am excited to be able to teach children a lesson I was taught at a very young age which was: even though someone is different they are not better or worse.
My ideal class setting would be one in which I have students that have an array of cultures; combining these cultures will create a unique story. Together our class, made up of different cultures, will eventually make up a culture of their own. The way students will begin to interact between themselves as well as the way I, the teacher, will interact with them will be unique to my class. I have also come to understand that my classroom culture will change from year to year as my students change. With this, I will also be growing my garden of cultural experiences and understandings from year to year. I have done a number of things in my life that has forced me to look at life through a new lens and I have learned a huge amount from these experiences. I started elementary school in a classroom that was made up of half hearing impaired and deaf children and half hearing children like myself, I have lived in Australia and New Zealand, I spent two weeks of my time in Australia living with an aboriginal family where I experienced many of their customs and beliefs, and I have also taken part in a number of Lebanese rituals. This is one part of teaching that I can truly say I am excited to experience and learn from.
Another thing that I would like to discuss is a question that was brought up during class last week. We were all asked: ‘what aspects of schooling will affect me that I am not prepared for?’ This stirred up a lot in me. There are so many aspects of schooling that will affect me and, because my education has just begun, I feel like I am little prepared for any of them. I know that I will be dealing with all sorts of problems from dealing with parents to preparing for testing; I have not been officially taught how to deal with most of these situations yet but am confident this is what the program is for. Although I am confident that this program will help prepare me for my time in the classroom, I am also aware that there will always be times in my career where my best judgment will need to be used as well as relying on my colleagues for support.
I have been getting a bit caught up from time to time with the idea that I am not going to have all of the answers when I teach and that I could be responsible for ruining my student’s lives. I have begun to realize that I must remain confident and know that teaching will always be a work in progress. I have always thought of myself as a lifetime students and this is exactly what I will be. Going along with what I said before, I think that in order for me to be a professional teacher I must remain willing to work on my teaching styles, my interactions with my students, my leadership in my school and district, and most importantly myself.
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