I found that I somewhat stumbled upon one of the key core values I hold during a job interview several years ago. I was interviewing for a job as a nanny to twin toddlers when their mother asked me what my parenting philosophy was. At the time I was not a parent but without having ever given much thought to the question I immediately stated that my goal when working with children has always been and will continue to be to help them succeed. I strive to be a positive force in the lives of the students and athletes I work with. I don’t think any teacher wants to be the “mean” teacher who is constantly yelling at their students but I also always strive to give my students positive and constructive teaching and feedback concerning their work. My aim is to teach, not belittle them for not automatically knowing what the answer is. I would say that as prospective teachers this is probably a common sentiment among us but this idea has guided how I have taught up to this point and I imagine that it will continue to be a key component in my educational philosophy.
I’m sure this seems simple and perhaps a “no brainer” but I can remember having numerous teachers and other adults in my life who taught their students by constantly telling them what they had done wrong or how their work was simply incorrect, rather than help them to find the correct answer. The overall message that students seemed to interpret from these teachers’ behaviors was that they had failed and in turn were failures themselves. If teachers do nothing more than inform their students what they don’t know by telling them the answer they have given is wrong, they are not doing their job to teach and certainly are not encouraging their students to become life-long learners. With that in mind it is understandable why students can become discouraged with the idea of school and/or dropout. It is so disheartening to see a child’s spirit broken or damaged by the negative influence of an adult in their life. This is why I feel it is so important to be the voice that consistently tells children they can succeed. So again, even though this seems like a simple, no brainer concept I think it is important to remember that not only the words we use but the tone in which we say them to students can have a lasting impact on their self image and attitude towards learning.
3 comments:
Hi Erin! I also have had teachers like those you described in this blog. Don’t you think that all teachers begin their career with ideals such as the ones we have been thinking about and blogging about? What do you think happens? What would turn a teacher who wants to have a positive impact on students around to become a teacher who speaks harshly and belittles students? In our LC book, Mr. Brown begins with similar ideals but is bogged down by the fact that the students do not cooperate with his desire and he has no/little support from his administration. How do you think we should handle the student who intentionally ignores or chooses to answer incorrectly? How do you deal with students that continually are pushing you to the edge and not become the bitter teacher? I think that a little detachment would be ok at that point to kind of remove yourself from the situation…A time to decompress and change your perspective to that of the student’s. By trying remembering that it is not personal but just the student testing you to see where the boundaries are. Maybe that might be a way to remain the teacher who is positive, encouraging and loving to students. I guess it would be like how we choose to react to our own children when they are choosing rotten behavior. Good Job!
Hi Erin, I agree with the need to focus on the positive more than the negative. Sometimes, especially when we ourselves are feeling discouraged, it is so easy to focus on the negative and not reward the positive. It's like when a student acts out all the time and gets the attention while the quiet child in the back who does all his work gets ignored because the teacher assumes he doesn't need all the attention.
But something to think about, I once saw a documentary on self-esteem. A study was done with students where all were given the same easy test. Half were told they did really well on the test and were smart, while the other half was told that it was obvious they had worked really hard on the test. A second, harder test was administered. The students who were told they were smart after the first test didn't do well on the 2nd test and became easily frustrated and gave up easier. They finished the test thinking they had done poorly, that the poor score was a reflection of themselves, and it had a negative effect on their self-esteem. The second group also struggled with the harder test, but they put more effort into the test and had higher scores as a result. The 2nd test had a positive effect on their self-esteem. The difference seemed to be that the 1st group saw the test scores as a reflection of their intelligence, while the 2nd group saw it as a reflection of how hard they worked. So, I guess my food for thought is that as teachers we have to be careful of how we talk about things and how we praise them. Even when we are being positive, it has the potential to backfire, depending on how the children internalize what they have been told. Of course this is easier said than done and requires that we be constantly self aware... :)
Hi Erin,
I like what you had to say this week and I agree with your core value of helping children succeed. I had first hand experience this year with a group of kids who were labeled 'emotionally disturbed' and one had to proceed with caution when working with them. The teacher I worked with had a completely different approach than I did. His theory was behavior modification and mine was more about respecting them each as individuals and fostering success in their classroom. In reading Dan Brown's book this week, nothing is shocking me because it reminds me a lot of my experience this past year. I made a lot of mistakes and there were time I lost my patience because the class was unruly. But the core thing I noticed is if I lost my patience with a child it had a direct consequence and it ususally looked like the child shutting down. I'd go back and apologize and they'd come back to being productive. I think it can be so hard to be a teacher because most of us enter into it with ideals and have the plan all layed out of how we think it's going to look, but when we get into the classroom, we're thrown so many curveballs that I feel like it's a juggling act some of the time. Now I know why we're going to be taught to plan lessons and back up lessons. I think as long as we're prepared, we may not do it perfectly, but our chances of being a successful teacher with good classroom management skills increases.
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