- Feb 2018
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you’re never “finished”
TRUTH!
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pause, observe, and critically read the demands of the context, unpack the assumptions embedded within those demands, and determine mindfully how to respond
While this is important to us as teachers, this equally is just as important to our students.
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attempts to do so vary according to the specific challenges presented in the circumstances and context at hand.
Teachers all are different and have a variety of teaching styles. The same can be said of our students. They all are different and learn very differently. Therefore, it is important to be flexible in a classroom because what works for one student might not work for another student, especially when working with special education students!
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Wobble occurs routinely in the classroom when something unexpected emerges, such as an unpredictable question that neither the students (nor you, for that matter) can adequately address, or a spat that breaks out be-tween students that has absolutely nothing to do with the academic subject at hand. When wobble occurs, you may feel as if nothing in your teach-er education program has prepared you for this, and you may very well be right.
Constant. Working with autistic kids, I constantly question myself. Why is this behavior occurring? What can I do to prevent the behavior from occurring again? Am I actually helping at all? Who, in their right mind, thought it would be a good idea to have me teach and be in charge of children? Am I in the right profession? Am I doing enough? What can I do to be a better teacher?
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we collaborate with colleagues who provide moral support and at the same time challenge our thinking.
I am so lucky and so blessed to have such awesome colleagues. Not only am I able to go to them for advice, but I also continuously am able to bounce ideas off of them and grow with them. I would not be able to survive work, were it not for my colleagues.
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increase mindfulness through fo-cused breathing and concentration
Many teachers at the high school, where I work, attempt to utilize mindfulness techniques to help the students do exactly that --> focus on their breathing or some other activity to get them in a learning mindset.
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“how-to” aspects of teaching: writing standards-based lesson plans, designing mean-ingful projects for their future students, figuring out how to grade them fairly, and so forth
I remember this so well. I always was so focused on creating "perfect" lesson plans and projects, making sure that I correctly wrote objectives and incorporated the standards. It wasn't until I was in the field that I realized how much more there was to the art of teaching. There's so much that occurs that never is taught in an undergraduate classroom.
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- Jan 2018
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we learn from experience
While in my undergraduate studies, I was "taught" how to be a teacher. It wasn't until I was in the profession that I really learned how to be teacher. Now, five years later, I can say that, while I have learned quite a bit from being in the profession, I still have an immense amount of learning to do yet. My experiences and my learning from experiences is far from over!
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We cannot overlook the factors of discipline and of character-building involved in this: training in habits of order and of industry, and in the idea of responsibility, of obligation to do something, to produce something, in the world. There was always something which really needed to be done, and a real necessity that each member of the household should do his own part faithfully and in coöperation with others.
I completely am onboard with the emphasis of personal growth in students; however, there gets to be a point of exhaustion when we, as teachers, try and try so hard at school only to get no feedback on the home-front, thereby perpetuating this "I don't care" mentality from the students. We often reiterate to our students the importance of being accountable and responsible, thus enabling their work truly to show who they are; yet, this doesn't ever seem to sink in. It does not seem to matter how innovative we try to be with our lessons or how often we attempt to incorporate technology in the classroom. That "I don't care" mentality still exists. Is this because of years of being passed through? Now that these students are at the high school, there's no turning back? I especially agree that "each member of the household should do his own part faithfully and in cooperation with others", but how do we best service our students when even this does not seem to work?
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the growth of a world-wide market as the object of production, of vast manufacturing centers to supply this market, of cheap and rapid means of communication and distribution between all its parts.
I read this and all I can picture is an assembly line of students going from class to class, being provided with vital information, until they've attained all of the requirements necessary to be considered "complete" as they continue through their last march through the high school, which we fondly call graduation.
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