I truly believe that a student’s will to do good
starts from inside the home. However, some students do not have that parent
involvement that encourages and motivates them to do good. We, as educators,
have and need to be that positive influence in the lives of our students. The
first page of this chapter caught my attention because it really talks about
the way that we can help our students. It talks about four mind-sets that
directly relates to the kind of atmosphere teachers establish in the classroom.
They include the following: I belong in this academic community. I can succeed
at this. My ability and competence grow with my effort. This work has value to
me. I love these mind-sets, but not all of our students are going to think this.
It is our job to make them feel comfortable enough so that they KNOW they
belong in this academic community. It is our job to help them, support them,
and motivate them so they know that they CAN succeed. It is our job to show
them that when they truly try and put forth the effort, that their ability and
competence WILL grow. It is our job to prove to them that their work DOES have
value and that everything we strive to do for them in the classroom with
hopefully help them now and for the long-run. This chapter describes multiple
ways to show students that their teachers care. Some of these include, making
the classroom a place where students trust their teachers, organize in a way
that lets students work together and help one another, provide students with
ways to take responsibility in the classroom, connect learning with the lives
of our students, etc. I really enjoyed reading about each of these because it
allows our students to become more involved in our classrooms and hopefully
will make them feel like this is a safe place to learn and grow with their
peers.
328 words
Thanks, Kayeli! You're getting at an incredibly important point. Often, student we perceive to be "difficult" often come from difficult homes. They shout, for example, because they've grown up in a house where people shout at each other. In a classroom, however, shouting generally doesn't work very well. As teachers, we must recognize that we are in a position to model other ways of being in the world, other ways of interacting with people.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your blog, because many of the things you talked about are the exact reasons I wanted to become a teacher. I think it is so important for students to feel like no matter where they come from they can be successful. It is up to us a educators to motivate them and the fact that we even have that power is incredible. It sounds cliche, but I really do believe teachers can change lives if they take a step back from the content and get to know their students. (93)
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your blog, because many of the things you talked about are the exact reasons I wanted to become a teacher. I think it is so important for students to feel like no matter where they come from they can be successful. It is up to us a educators to motivate them and the fact that we even have that power is incredible. It sounds cliche, but I really do believe teachers can change lives if they take a step back from the content and get to know their students. (93)
ReplyDelete