Ever since I was a little girl I have
always enjoyed taking care of the kids who were younger than me. As I got older
I was allowed to babysit and a few years after that, I became a Nanny. Kids are
my passion. I envy the way they look at the world. Everything is a new
experience, constantly learning and exploring. As we grow up we lose a bit of
our imagination and our excitement for learning. I believe that Einstein was a
brilliant man with great insight on life. One thing he said that really sticks
out to me is that “it is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.” It is important to not only keep our children’s
imagination and excitement for learning alive but also to help them discover
who they are through all of their learning experiences. We can accomplish this
as teachers by providing a safe learning environment, giving students the tools
they need to be successful in life, and shaping our lesson plans around our
students and how they learn.
In Maslow’s
theory “Hierarchy of Needs”, the second most important thing a child needs is
security (the first being food, water, ect.). I couldn’t agree more. If a child
doesn’t feel safe they aren’t going to be comfortable to learn or grow. This
means we need to bring to an end bullying. As teachers we need to put our foot
down and stop bullying when we see it happening. I was always picked on for
being tall and for having red hair and freckles. Whenever I would tell a
teacher they would say, oh ignore them you should be proud of your height. Well
at the age of 9 and being not only the tallest girl, but the tallest kid in my
class I didn’t understand. Teachers would always tell me to just ignore it and
would never talk to the other student about what they said that hurt me. As a
teacher I can’t see myself telling a child to ignore a bully nor do I want the
bullied to retaliate. To try and stop bullying before it happens I will talk to
students about diversity and how it is okay to be different because everyone is
different. If you make fun of someone for having red hair they can make fun of
you for being short. The cycle of harassment would never end. Thus, it needs to
be stopped before it even happens.
Once
students feel safe a student teacher relationship can start. The student
shouldn’t see the teacher as the sole bearer of all the answers, or else how
will the student be able to come up with his or her own ideas and opinions? Rather,
the teacher needs to be at a more equal level with the student. The teacher
will share impartial knowledge with the student, but only as a way of
guiding the student to the ultimate answer which only the student can find.
Albert Einstein once said that "the
important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for
existing." I believe that students should be able to ask questions even if
the answer seems obvious or if they are asking something that challenges the
book. Students generally thrive in an environment where they can be open,
honest and able to problem solve on their own, with a little guidance from the
teacher. As a teacher I will use questions as a way to get the students to
think differently about a situation. For example, if a group of students was having a hard time understanding
a concept in science I can ask them questions that will get them thinking in
such a way that they will be able to figure it out on their own. When you give
your students a place where they feel safe to ask questions and be creative
with minimal teacher intrusion they will leave your class with the tools to be
confident and the ability to think creatively.
Tools are
things that can be stored away and will help us later in life whether it is the
ability to read or how to work as a team effectively.
These tools will
continue to grow past graduation and throughout our lives. Some of the tools
that I want to teach my students are: logical reasoning skills, interpersonal
skills, time management, and technology skills.
Logical reasoning skills are
essential for students to be able to evaluate all the advertising and
information that they are bombarded with. "You can fool some of the people
all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool
all of the people all of the time" (Abraham Lincoln). Logical reasoning is
a good defensive tool for young people to use to evaluate new information they
are given to see if it makes sense and is a valid argument or not. Interpersonal
skills are also very important to lifelong success and need to be taught as
early as possible. These tools are sometimes called "people skills"
or "soft skills". Kids need to learn how to be patient, how to listen
effectively, to avoid criticizing themselves or others, to express gratitude
and respect for others, and how to accept a compliment. They need to know how
to meet new people and carry on a conversation. In today's fragmented families,
it falls on the teacher to make sure that students develop these tools.
In today's busy world, time
management skills are also vital to a student's success in college and in the
work world. I will help my help students discover what their peak homework
hours are, how to prioritize tasks, and how to make lists and break large
projects into smaller steps. Technology and time management go hand-in-hand,
and it is important to teach students how to manage their time online so that
the internet is a time-saver instead of a time-waster. It will allow them to
learn tools for the future.
As we hit the 21st century
technology has become a way of life. Not only are teachers using technology to
help implement lessons but students need to be taught how to use it. That
includes typing and basic computer knowledge; Microsoft Word, saving documents,
and the best ways to safely search the internet and find what you are looking
for. These are some of the best tools we can give our students. All students
should be given the opportunity to use technology in their classroom. SweetSearch
is a great example of how useful technology can be for students. It is a custom
search engine that only searches 35,000 Web sites that have been thoroughly
reviewed and evaluated by a team of Internet researchers for quality and
reliability. SweetSearch excludes the junky sites that appear at the top of
search results in other search engines and that waste students' time.
Perhaps the greatest tool that I want
to teach my students is self-confidence, or self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is
defined as "people's beliefs about their capabilities to produce
designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that
affect their lives. Self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think,
motivate themselves and behave" (Albert Bandura www.des.emory.edu/mfp/BanEncy.html).
When students are taught that diversity is okay and that they are special and
have their own strengths and talents, they develop confidence that motivates
them to be successful.
The way students learn can be
narrowed down to three categories; auditory, visual and kinesthetic or tactile.
According to the website a Time 4 Learning, “auditory learners may have trouble
with written instructions and may talk to themselves when learning something
new” (www.time4learning.com). Visual learners have a hard time following
lectures and find it easier to write down instructions. Kinesthetic learners
need to be able to move and manipulate what they are learning. Knowing your
students preferred learning style can help you interest a child in new
material. With this information you can also learn which style your students
need to strengthen. It is good for students to be able to learn with more than
one style because they will have different teachers who may only teacher to
their learning style forgetting that not all students learn the same way. I
believe that it is important to keep in mind all three ways of learning when
coming up with your lesson plans. Without applying all three of these styles
some of your students might fall behind.
I believe that it is not the actual
memorization of facts, but what the student gets out of his or her education
that is most important. For this reason, I believe that teachers should act as guides
for students. They should provide the knowledge needed to lead the student, but
the ultimate goal is self- discovery and what the student makes of their
knowledge.
