Disscussing Your Thoughts

A good way for a teacher to get all the class, well at least most of it, involved to have discussions about certain topics. Or at least an oral activity to help them understand the subject/ topic. I find from my experience as a student that it is more helpful to me to have an open disscussion because I am able to go off of what other people said. Also to get a deeper understanding by having it explained to me from different peer points of view. Voicing your opinion does not only stop at the classroom, but also with your colleagues, administrators, and parents of your students. By talking about what you think should be done, or things that are going well in your opinion help others figure out their problem and understand where you are coming from. That is why being allowed to speak your opinion is so important in the education system.

Open-mindedness

As a teacher you have to be open to what may happen in a classroom. Kids are not something that you can give a schedule to and expect them to follow it flawlessly. There are many events that you can't account for when creating a lesson plan a month in advance, which is why you have to be open-minded as a teacher. I remember when I was in high school and we got to go to Brazil for an orchestra tour and our director kept telling us about the culture there and how it might be a shock for us, but that we just had to "roll with the punches." It was about our second night in Rio de Janeiro when we went to this restuarant. We were just finishing up our meal of meat, rice, and beans whena bunch of samba dancers entered the establishment and took some students up to dance with them. As we were told we rolled with the punches and danced and clapped along with the samba dancers, but our orchestra director flipped out about how scantily clad the dancers were and started crying about how much trouble she could get in, because the superintendent of the school district was along for the trip. Although she told us basically to go along with whatever came our way she cracked at the first real culture encounter that came upon us. If she were more open-minded like she told us to be, it would have blown over and been a lot more fun for all parties involved.

Resilience

All teachers have to be resilient because as we all know, kids are a handful! Students can tell when you are weak and cannot handle stress well. And once they find your weakness they take advantage of it, however, if you prove that you are resilient you are able to manage your class with some ease. Substitute teachers usually have a tough time with this because kids know that subs don't know what usually goes on in class, and take advantage of the sub's ignorance. That is why you cannot show when you're stressed out because the kids will figure it out and will think they can get away with things that are normally not tolerated. These are just a few reasons why teachers have to be resilient during the school days. And if you aren't able to handle stress well, then you should probably think twice about becoming a teacher :)

Working in Groups

Do children learn as much while doing group projects or independent projects? Recently I was involved in a group project for my astronomy class where we had to measure the distance of the moon. I had two other partners, both really good friends, and I kept wondering if I would have learned more if I were doing this project by myself, or feel more accomplished by completing it on my own. In this case I probably would have liked to work more by myself so I felt like I had learned something about measuring the moon, but it really depends on what the project is. For instance, in history class during high school, I felt I learned more when doing a project with a group because they either interpreted the material differently or had more knowledge than I did. Also when they didn't know something about the topic I was able to feel knowledgeable and give them the answer to their question. So in the end I think it is the teacher's job to be able to know when to give an individual project rather than a group project, even though the kids might like working with their friends on most projects.

Success

As a teacher the main goal is to help kids learn, either more details on a subject or something entirely new to them. Either was you want to be successful in helping them understand what you are teaching. Efficacy is when you achieve the desired effect. Efficacy as a teacher is important because you want the kids to know you care about what you are doing as well as what they are doing. And once you get the desired outcome you will know that you are able to achieve that outcome again. Also once the kids see that you are confident in what you are doing it will make it easier for them to enjoy learning as well as understand the subject better. Teachers must learn from their mistakes and keep going with what works. Once you get the hang of what works you can enjoy seeing the kids learn even more!

Creativity and Origniality

Kids have always been encouraged to show their creativity and ingenuity. We are encouraged to be original in our thinking, or "outside the box" as some people might say. There are even classes devoted to being expressing your creativity: music and art, to name a few. But they are always the ones getting cut from the budget first if a school is running out of funds. How do we expect our students to be creative and inventive if we do not allow them to do it in the class by keeping more of the narrow focused classes like math and science that have specific equations to find the right answer. Although a writing class is usually left after cuts, I think that is not enough to allow a child to be creative. That is why it is good to have extra-curriculars to be able to help a kid feel creative. I have always been terrible at math, but pretty good at music, and I think this is because I don't have a set of laws and theories to follow, I can just go wherever the music takes me, as corny as that sounds. And if it weren't for my music being my creative outlet I don't think I could have concentrated in the more instructional classes such as math and science.

Role Playing

Many people learn from doing, role playing is no exception in teaching. I have found from experience that teachers usually learn more while doing than just learning. Although you can not learn everything from role-playing, such as the hard facts of teaching, but you can learn from observing and taking part in the role of being a teacher. That is why mostly more experienced teachers are able to be better teachers. They have been in the role as a teacher and have made mistakes or good judgements and are able to learn from those experiences. In class on Monday night, a few weeks back now, we were taught in a different way from the other Monday night lecturese. We were able to learn by all participating in a activity to voice our concerns of a certain cut-back in a school. I think that I learned a lot more by being involved in that discussion because I was interacting with people instead of sitting in an uncomfortable desk listening to a professor drone on, no offense, about a topic that could be more interesting if I were able to be apart of topic. Although most people do not learn the same way, I believe that it is beneficial to have certain aspects of learning how to become, not only a teacher, but a good teacher to have students interact with each other in big or small group activities.

Passion

Teachers that show passion for their subject and students are far more likely to be a successful teacher. And by successful I mean that students are gaining knowledge from them and improving both academically and socially. If it weren't for passion, the class would become boring and no one would have interest in studying that certain subject. But with the passion a teacher shows it makes students want to learn and to be good at the subject. For instance, when I was a junior in high school I didn't really care all that much about history, that is until Mrs. Farrel became my teacher. She showed so much enthusiasm about American history as well as world history that I became really interested in the subject and tried my hardest in that class because she made me have passion for history as well. It's not like I hadn't taken a history class before then, in my school system its required almost every year. However, most of the teachers I had for that subject didn't have the same passion that Mrs. Farrel had when teaching. Passion makes a huge difference in the eyes of the student. If you don't have passion for your subject how are the kids suppose to find that passion themselves?

How Far is Too Far--Authenticity

It is always tough to know when to draw the line between too involved in a student's life and not paying attention to the problems of the student. According to dictionary.reference.com the definition of authenticity is the quality or condition of being authentic, trustworthy, or genuine. Authenticity is another big part of being a good teacher. I say this because if your students don't trust you, they will not benefit from your lessons. Also being authentic can help the children learn better. They will be able to remember the different ways you taught them how to reach an answer because of how authentic and trusting you were being with them.

Now going back to the boundaries of being too into the students' lives. A teacher needs to be careful when being genuine because some people whether they are other students, co-workers, administrators, or parents, can take some of the things you do with your students the wrong way. An example of this was given in class when the coach of a college sports team was photographed attending an after-game party with his arm around a young woman. When the photo of this coach got out people jumped to conclusions of how this older man was taking advantage of this student. Not only do teachers have to worry about the well-being of their students, but they have to keep in mind that everything they do will be scrutinized differently by an outside party.

These are ways that authenticity can be a good yet difficult thing for a teacher to bring into the classrom

Compassion

Definition from http://dictionary.reference.com:

noun--a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.

Compassion is a key ingredient of being a great teacher. This is because if you show compassion to a person they will try their hardest to make you happy because they know you care for them. Although too much compassion may be a negative thing in the classroom. If a teacher has too much compassion for certain students it teaches those students that they are above the rules and also they can take advantage of your kindness. But if a teacher has no compassion in the classroom the kids may think that no matter how hard they try they will never get it right; so they stop trying to impress you. So although compassion is a great thing to have as a teacher, you have to know how to equal it out so there is not too little or too much.

A time that I remember teachers showing me compassion was in my junior year of high school. It was just after I lost a close family member and was dealing with everything that my teachers showed compassion by helping after school with the homework since I was having troubles concentrating in class and at home. It was only after a couple of weeks that I started doing homework on my own and got on with the normal routine of everything. But there was still this one teacher who was showing me compassion, a little too much now that I look back at it. If I had not done my homework assignment this teacher would excuse it so that I wouldn't have to worry about it. At the time I thought this was very nice, but then I started taking advantage of the situation. At the end of the course I realized that both of us, mostlty myself, had messed up my ablility to learn the material for the course.

This is why I think compassion can be a good and bad characteristic in the classroom. Which is why teachers should use it wisely.

Video about Compassion in the Classroom:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYY6-EdTzXw

R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

Respect is one of the main things that teachers and student need to incorporate in and out of the classroom. Without the respect of the students the teacher has a harder time helping the students learn new subjects. I think this because the without the students cooperation the teacher has to focus more on the order of the classroom then the learning of new subjects. The reason I think the teacher has to have respect for the students is that without their input or them questioning the lessons the teacher will never be able to learn what works and what doesn't with the kids. Some of the best teachers are the ones who listen to the kids and are able to respect the different ways kids learn and are able to take their suggestions without getting all high and mighty. I don't exactly remember when I was treated with respect, but I certainly remember a time when a teacher did not treat me with respect. I was in 3rd grade and my class was doing this "Jepordy" type game and it was my turn and I got a question I knew was 100% right. So when I told her my answer it was not the same as the answer she had. And because she did not respect my opinion I felt humliated in from of my peers. And because of that humliation I felt like the teacher didn't deserve my respect and therefore I didn't listen or pay attention to her for the rest of the time I had her. These reasons are why I think that respect is the most important part of teacher and student relationships.