Image by Wonderlane via FlickrThe following paragraph is my reaction as I read Mr. McClung's blog post describing what he learned from his first year of teaching. “Listen to Your Students You may be the only person that does.” Wow! What powerful words. I’ve always known that I wanted to help students learn and achieve their wildest dreams, and I know that many don’t have ideal home situations. These words just reminded me that teaching is so much more. How many times has the “quite” kid been written off as shy or just forgotten and in reality they want to share and engage, but are afraid, not shy. Although bullying is a concern, how many times has the class bully or even class clown, been sent to the principal’s office when they are generally acting out for attention or because they think violence is normal since that is all they see at home. The most valuable advice to me--communicate with your fellow teachers. Being in your own “world” most of the day, teaching how you see best, I can imagine it is easier to dismiss teachers you do not agree with or even get to know teachers who could have valuable lessons for you. My first (albeit, short) teaching job allowed me a slightly unique (for Alabama anyhow) situation of collaborative teaching at the high school level. I learned a lot from the 60+ combined years of experience from the two teachers with which I collaborated with on a daily basis.
Lisianna, I could not agree with you more. I think too often we dismiss the students and expect that they have friends and a family to talk to when sometimes that student really just wants someone to listen. I thought Mr. McClung did a great job of capturing the realistic student-teacher relationship. I also think that teachers could learn from talking with other teachers. Good post!
ReplyDeleteLisianna,
ReplyDeleteI definitely think you made a great point in your post concerning Mr. McClung's advice. So many times students are dismissed as the problem child or the insecure, quiet kid. The majority of the time these students are the ones that need extra love and encouragement. I think teachers get annoyed with the problems created and forget this aspect of the job. We are there to teach the students, but our job entails so much more. It is great that you have had some experience and collaboration with teachers, and I am certain you could probably write your own post like Mr. McClung. All future teachers need to know what we should and shouldn't do, and people who share their experiences help a lot!