Throughout my time at the school I have learned so much! Being around those kids has, I believe, made me a better person and hopefully the kids I was with benefited from me being there. It’s hard for me to believe that I was so nervous before this service learning experience started and now I don’t want it to stop. I wish I could start teaching right now!
I consider myself extremely lucky and blessed that I was placed in such a great classroom. The teacher I worked with was exactly the type of teacher I want to be. She was respected, loved and made her physical science class the most interesting class I have ever been in. The students loved her and because of that my service learning experience was a very positive and educational experience.
The reason I decided to be an education major was because I love to help people and I believe that there teaching is a way that I can help influence people to want to achieve higher goals and to help instill in themselves the confidence they need to go out into the world. Throughout the past couple weeks I have learned new strategies for helping students, such as working with them one on one or creating a more visual lesson that makes learning more enjoyable. The teacher I worked with, Ms. G, taught me that students just want to feel appreciated and want to be affirmed that they are doing well. I see the fruits of this in her classroom. Her students feel comfortable to speak what they are feeling even if it is not related to science. They feel comfortable to “be real” in the classroom which I love.
As a future teacher I want to be able to have a personal relationship with my students while creating a need for respect as their teacher. I want to be able to teach my students that going against the status quo will be more rewarding in their lives then simply doing what their family members or relatives have done in the past. It is my responsibility to instill in my students a desire to learn and to pass that knowledge down. It is very hard in the lives of the children in these inner city schools to stay positive and enjoy school because so much at home is out of order and for most kids there is very little support to do well. That is why I want to be the teacher who is their for her students even outside if the classroom so that they will be able to pass that support on.
Allan Johnson says that students should not just be in the classroom to pass. Meaning teachers should not just teach to test but we should help our students make a personal choice to take part in changing what has become the norm and challenge what has been accepted as the status quo. A good teacher will see his or her job not simply as the means to make a living but as the opportunity to change a life and better a society. I want to be that teacher. I do not want to teach for money because as we all know we won’t be getting paid much but life is much more then that! All I know is this, whatever I bring to my classroom, knowledge support, trust, respect, etc. will only be multiplied in the long run as those students will hopefully pass on what they have learned to their families, friends, and relatives which will initiate a positive change- that is the reason I want to teach and what this service learning experience has taught me.
Hey Gen!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great entry describing your experience. I enjoyed reading it and could actually tell the energy that you put into the classroom because you loved this experience so much. You’re definitely on the right track to wanting to know your students personally and challenge them to go far beyond themselves. The kids in these inner city schools definitely have to be challenged to break the status quo the most because they aren’t expected to make it far in life and it’s up to us as teachers to help them realize that they can do anything they want and that they can rise above those challenges in life. I also like how you describe that these children have to go beyond what their parents and relatives did as well. I think this is a great motivator especially because most parents always want their children to achieve even more than what they themselves achieved. And as you said as teachers, we won’t be making a ton of money and that we need to teach because it’s what we want to do. I totally agree with this which means we need to not just “teach to test” but we need to teach to help these kids make a difference in the world, question what they are learning, and apply a critical analysis to the world around them. I can tell already that you are going to be a great addition to the education world. Good luck!