I have found all of our guest panels and speakers so helpful in getting a more realistic sense of what students deal with and how teachers can help. The number one point that stands out at me after all of our discussions up to this point in the course is this: Be a relationship builder. The effective teacher actively does more than his or her fair share in order to invest in relationships with students, their parents, their foster parents, paras, counselors, administrators, fellow teachers, staff members at school . . . I'm glad of this because it makes teaching a much more human activity. The teacher is one human having valuable, working relationships with other human beings for the purpose of helping those other people live their lives to the fullest. It's also a two-way street because these relationships are also going to help the teacher to live his or her life to the fullest. The humanity of all this also makes the hard work of the teacher worth it because people are worth it.
Regarding some of these relationships specifically, then, I have learned ways of fostering positive, effective partnerships with people for the purpose of helping students become who they were created to be.
As a middle school teacher, I know that I will come across a lot of "drama" that does not at all seem like drama to my students. And if it's not drama to them, I don't think it should be drama to me. For them, it will be real and sometimes threatening--to their friendships, to their health, to their self-esteem. I am going to strive to build a great relationship with the counselor at my school so that when I can tell that my students are going through struggles, I can either refer them to the counselor or ask the counselor for advice that I can give the students. I am also very open to the possibility of asking the counselor to come into my English class as a guest speaker if we happen to be reading a book that contains teen issues that would be good to discuss with a professional who helps people deal with those issues.
I know that I am going to have a para in at least one of the class periods that I will teach during student teaching. I have met her briefly in the past, but I plan on really getting to know her this semester and on asking her for her insight into how to most effectively engage all of the students in the lessons that I teach, especially those who have trouble paying attention.
Regarding sexuality, I first hope to get to know my students so that they know that I care about their well-being, so that I can assure them of their dignity, and so that I can encourage them to guard and respect their own dignity and that of others. I want them to know that they are worth the wait.
One thing that I am worried about right now in this regard is knowing what to do if I overhear parts of students' conversations with each other and hear them gossipping, cussing, or talking about things that show that they are not respecting their sexuality. Should I interject? Should I pull individuals aside later? What do you all think?
ED460 Personal and Social Well Being is a course taken by college students in education during their student teaching semester. Topics covered include: poverty, child abuse, bullying, drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, counselors' role in school, adolescents and choices, and the use of technology.
I forgot to mention how I will build community with foster care students. Every child in foster care is, first and foremost, a child. I want to get to know that child--human to human. If I have authenic care for that child and the intention of giving him or her stability in my classroom, the act of doing some extra homework to look up records, call foster parents, set up meetings, and give learning support to catch that child up will be just a normal part of being in relationship with someone.
ReplyDeleteI am happy to hear that you have already met your Para briefly! Be sure to establish a positve relationship with her, even as a student teacher. It will be good practice for you! Also, i agree with you that we really are the realtionship builders! Relationships in a classroom environment can either make or break a classroom! It is up to us to figure out how we want it to be!
ReplyDeleteI think that if you overhear them gossiping about something that you feel is necessary to bring up with them, I would say there is nothing wrong with talking to them privately after school and mentioning it to them. I wouldn't do it in front of the class because they may feel humiliated, but it doesn't hurt to discuss with them some issues that may upset you.
*Note--This is Jenny F, sorry not sure why it posted anonymous!
ReplyDeleteRelationships, relationships, relationships. This one word is the main component of our future as teachers. As student teachers it is our job to learn how to build relationships with our teachers and our students. If we have a positive attitude about relationships, our students are going to have better relationships down the road. We need to make an impact on our students and building relationships and community is the only way to accomplish this.
ReplyDeleteI really liked what you said about forming a good relationship with the counselor. A good teacher gets to know their students and know when it is or is not appropriate to send a child to see the counselor. The counselor is going to have great insight on many things and it is important to trust and know them.
As to know when to stop students when you overhear talking about something I think you will have that gut feeling. It is important to know your students and know when they are joking around or when they are serious. Some problems you have to let the students figure out for them selves so they can grow, but when it comes to a serious offense, you should interject.
As an English teacher, too. I often wonder how to deal with question that will arise from certian topics in our texts. I really liked your idea about having a counselor or professional in that field come in to answer those questions. You could simply ask students to hold those questions for the guest speaker and write them down so they don't forget to ask. It prevents you from avoiding a question completely that they want to know, but that you don't know how to handle.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the eavesdropping scenerio, I feel like this happens all the time for teachers. I think it would depend on the conversation and what type of school you are in. In a Catholic school, you could explain what the Catholic Church teaches on the subject or bring the priest or religion teacher in. If it is really out of context, you could simply talk to the religion teacher, and let them know what kinds of questions the kids are asking so he/she can tailor a lesson to meet their needs. One time I had students come into my room after a religion class with lots of questions. Some students had taken it upon themselves to answer them, but they had made inferences and gotten a little confused about what the teacher had said. I merely corrected the misinterpretation. In a public school, I might say something about how "it doesn't sound like you are speaking respectfully about your fellow men/women," just so someone is upholding human dignity. Character development is still allowable in public schools, so you could explain how those works/actions do not treat others with dignity or respect.
I think you hit the nail on the head when you talked about building relationships with students. That does seem to be a repeating theme. But with doing that, it does seem that all things would be slightly easier because the foundation is already built.
ReplyDeleteAs for you question of overhearing things: my personal opinion would depend on what you overhear, and your knowledge of the students that you overheard. I think if I heard something that was harmful to the student or to someone else, of course I would interject. But just overhearing gossip or conversations, I may not. This is a tricky one that would be based on a case to case situation. If I saw a large problem, such as this happening often, or hearing about repeating problems frequently, I may choose to address a whole class and not single a student out. I feel that a student may not be really responsive to me calling them out individually if they felt that i was ease dropping, as they see this as a major invasion of privacy.
Again going with eveyone else its easy to see how important relationships are for a teacher though all of the material and panels we've seen. It important to realize that theres a strong network of support which will be helpful for everyone involved.
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