This is kind of a tricky question for me. Right now, the political climate and the stigma with teachers is that they're overworked and underpaid and that more teachers are leaving the profession for other pursuits than starting the profession. Because many qualified teachers are leaving and not feeling motivated to stick around, the quality of education is struggling. I have a couple siblings in high school right now and their school doesn't have enough students interested in the higher level math classes for the school to be willing to offer two separate calculus classes and has combined them into one class. My mom is super frustrated with her local schools and is considering pulling her kids out of the local high school and driving them to a completely different school in a different district that is still offering the classes separately to give her kids the best chance of success.
There was also one day when I was doing service learning and was having a really hard time reaching the students I was working with and they had lost focus and were distracting each other and the other students at tables near us and I had a moment where I thought there was no way I could do this and maybe it wasn't for me.
However, I was reminded of the very first day of my service learning where I drove away from the school feeling so happy and fulfilled and grateful for the opportunity to be in a classroom with such bright young minds and be able to help influence them. I was reminded of a conversation with one of my good friends after some disappointing and discouraging news and cultural climate changes were going on when she pointed out to me that we, the future teachers of America, have the power to influence and shape the children of this generation for the better. I was reminded that if I want there to be positive changes in education in the future for my kids, I will do more if I can be part of it than I could by sitting at home just wishing things were different.
Overall, I do want to be a teacher because I want to be an influence for good for young minds. I know there will be days where it's harder to be positive and days where I will get down and discouraged. But I hope on those days to be able to focus on the tiny positives and things learned to be able to continue to help my students grow and to grow better as a teacher as well.
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Lesson 8 Classroom Assessment
One of the things I really appreciated about this course was the opportunity to do Service Learning. It really helped when I went into the classroom to have something specific to be looking for our thinking about to report in my blog. I actually wish there had been more blog assignments because although I still felt the days I didn't have a blog assignment to be working on had value, I feel like the blog part itself helped to give an extra purpose and added meaning to my day.
I do feel that I was able to make connections between the course and my student learning. Sometimes it was a little tricky, like the weeks we were talking about diversity in classrooms. At first glance, the classroom I was in didn't seem to be particularly diverse. The course pushed me to look a little deeper and try to get to know the kids a little better to understand how they learned and why they learned and what would motivate them to learn. I feel like the first week I was there, I just saw them all as students but by the last week, I knew which students had a harder time focusing or might need a little extra attention and I knew which students worked better if I was just hanging out nearby, whether or not they actually needed any help. I learned that the students in the class were not just a bunch of first graders but that they were all individuals with thoughts and ideas and different backgrounds and strengths and struggles. I was also able to learn some of the tricky parts about being a teacher and different strategies to handle outbursts or disruptions. Some of that was tricky for me since I'm in my last weeks of pregnancy so my patience wears a lot more thin than it might otherwise. I was able to learn a little about myself through this as well and about what things I would need to plan ahead for in order to be successful and not feel out of control.
Overall, it was a really good experience and as today is usually the day I would have been in the elementary classroom, I am feeling a little bummed out that I'm not there right now.
I do feel that I was able to make connections between the course and my student learning. Sometimes it was a little tricky, like the weeks we were talking about diversity in classrooms. At first glance, the classroom I was in didn't seem to be particularly diverse. The course pushed me to look a little deeper and try to get to know the kids a little better to understand how they learned and why they learned and what would motivate them to learn. I feel like the first week I was there, I just saw them all as students but by the last week, I knew which students had a harder time focusing or might need a little extra attention and I knew which students worked better if I was just hanging out nearby, whether or not they actually needed any help. I learned that the students in the class were not just a bunch of first graders but that they were all individuals with thoughts and ideas and different backgrounds and strengths and struggles. I was also able to learn some of the tricky parts about being a teacher and different strategies to handle outbursts or disruptions. Some of that was tricky for me since I'm in my last weeks of pregnancy so my patience wears a lot more thin than it might otherwise. I was able to learn a little about myself through this as well and about what things I would need to plan ahead for in order to be successful and not feel out of control.
Overall, it was a really good experience and as today is usually the day I would have been in the elementary classroom, I am feeling a little bummed out that I'm not there right now.
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