I want to become a
teacher because I had excellent teachers who seemed to love their jobs, their
students and their work. I want to enjoy my work while helping our youth
discover the world the way my teachers helped me discover mine. I formed a
vision and an understanding of the world mainly through my teachers’ guidance,
who continued to build a house full of windows around me, and every once in a
while I would find the window and open it. I remember the excitement I always
felt when the light would suddenly turn on and I would have a moment, an
epiphany of understanding, and then a whole new direction would become
available to me, the window would open. My teachers, the best ones, were
always able to step outside of the curriculum and find creative ways for us to
succeed, and with success came the learning. As teachers (in the making), our
main goal should be to provide opportunities for our students to succeed every
day, to provide the tools and motivation for learning. With this blog I hope to
shine some light on how important it is for teachers to get to know and
understand their individual students on a level that allows for creativity and
flexibility and together, teacher and student, can discover how to open the
window to knowledge and understanding.
"Tell me and I
forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn"
- Benjamin Franklin
It has been argued by
many that the most effective and safest method of teaching is to follow a well
laid out plan, a proven formula, a linear curriculum. I have found that a good
plan still needs a good teacher, and a good teacher provides opportunity for
individual creativity and the freedom of critical thinking. Like Benjamin
Franklin, I have come to realize that to achieve this goal, it is up to
the teachers to create opportunity. If we provide a safe environment where a
student feels comfortable enough to explore, without judgement, without
failure, then we will have started students on a path to success.
As demonstrated in the
video above, teachers make one of the largest, if not THE largest impact in our
lives. Teachers have the power to help make us into the people that we strive
to be. Education is not only about testing and grades. As stated by Drake, Reid
and Kolohon, it is about teaching our students everyday life skills, they need
to be taught persistence, curiosity, self-control, and consciousness if we want
to make a difference in their lives (Drake et al., 2014).
https://www.blendspace.com/lessons/ejdTQD5rqKaYvw/building-community-in-the-classroom
Students are diverse and it is our job to meet their
needs on every level, academically, socially and emotionally. Students come
with multiple strengths and abilities and it us up to us to be able to create a
classroom culture that builds on those strengths in order to have the best
learning experience possible (Hittie, 2000). Like the image illustrates above,
COMMUNITY IS IMPORTANT and it is up to us future educators to be aware
of this ourselves and to provide our students with the knowledge that there is
so much more beyond the curriculum.
Thanks
so much for reading my blog, I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on the importance
of a caring teacher. Please feel free to comment below! :)
Resources
Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and classroom assessment: Engaging the 21st century learner.
Franklin, B. (2013). Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.
Hittie, M. (2000). Building community in the classroom. International Education Summit, Detroit, Michigan.
