Can I actually make a difference? Robert told us a story about his brother, who is a teacher. His brother was assigned to teach the students who had been left behind and deemed not worth teaching. Undeterred, his brother set out to teach these students. Yes students do actually want to learn. Since he actually believed that his students could learn, not surprisingly, they started to learn. Unfortunately, it got to the point where these students were demanding that their other teachers should actually start teaching them too. Actually, it would be incorrect to say that the students demanding better instruction was unfortunate. The students were demanding the education to which they are entitled by right.
Unfortunately, for this teacher though, the demands from the students on the other teachers did not go over well. It got to the point where he had to eat his lunch in his classroom, having been cast out of the staff room. But he kept on teaching his students and they kept on achieving.
This story does inspire me to keep my commitment to making a difference. However, my hope died a little when the story ended with his brother was transferred to teach the International Bachelorette program. It was not stated, but I am assuming that his former students were left with a teacher who had already given up on them. My glimmer of hope died a little because it appears to me that an individual teacher was able to make a difference but only for a brief moment, potentially not long enough to affect long term change. I am still left with some doubts as to how much of a difference I can make. I haven’t thrown in the towel yet.
I would just like to conclude with a question. Why is it that some of the best teachers seek to teach “the best” students. Would it not be more beneficial if the most talented and gifted teachers worked with those who are “left behind?”
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I think the key for a successful revolution for these students would be to get a group of teachers on board so that they can all make a difference. That is usually how it has to happen, doesn't it? You can't just stand alone, you need other people to buy into what you are saying.
ReplyDeleteI think the defining of a good teacher also needs to be questioned. A good teacher could be someone that always challenges the students or a good teacher could be someone who has a great way of conveying ideas to children or keeping interest in the topic at hand, or maybe from a more old school approach it is someone who can keep their students quiet the whole class.
I think we will all be great teachers in different ways. I think that is what is great about teaching, there is no one way that teaching has to be done. I won't be the teachers that I have had, and I don't necessarily want to be. I am going to steal ideas and concepts and make them my own.
I could not agree more with you Brandie that "good" is a relative term. What makes one person a "good teacher" is different from what makes another person a "good teacher."
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough, recognizing the variety in teaching methods is one of the KSAs that we must meet for our Interim Certification.
The KSA states: 9) There are many approaches to teaching and learning. ie Know a broad range of instructional strategies appropriate to your area of specialization and subject discipline taught, and know which strategies are appropriate to help different students achieve different outcomes.
Interpret as you will.
Thanks again for reading my blog.
I definitely don't think that you should lose that glimmer of hope just because things didn't work out all that well for that one teacher. There are probably a plethora of stories out there, in fact, I know there are, of how teachers have touched the lives of students and have altered their futures in the most positive ways. While this class did find ways to make the teaching profession seem somewhat less than magical, I still believe that teachers have the ability to change lives. You can't possibly think that you are going to change every student's life or that every staff member is going to agree with your teaching methods (and I'm not suggesting that you are) but I do think that you have to remember that just by being there in that classroom every school day, you are making a difference in the lives of the students around you because whatever it is that you teach them will have some sort of impact in the future. That might just be the fact that you gave them a passing grade in Bio 30 which enabled them to get accepted into whatever college, that is going to affect them whether they recognize it or not! Because if you hadn't given them that grade, where would they be?! Yup, living in a van, down by the river!
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