Everything in education starts with the teacher. Too often you hear people say “it’s the kids” or “kids today” . You cant change to kids or the parents or the administration. The only thing you have control over is you. Lighting the spark and being the board deal, in my opinion, speak to how I as the educator have to find ways to engange the students with the material. When I am no longer able to find an external source to motivate them, then I have to look inside to see what I need to change in order to achieve the goals.
In order to achieve said goals in education you have to be able to persevere in the face of criticism. Once you have set the board you need to move the pieces as they are supposed to move and not take the shortcuts. That could only lead to needing to change the board again.
While the teacher is the start of it the students are the life of it. What ever we decide as educators we need to listen to the needs of the students and ask ourselves what will work best for all of us. The classroom is a group dynamic and while each student has their own individual needs and wants and the teacher has her own, the only way to achieve success is to look at the best possible things for the whole not the parts.
The classroom is a group dynamic, and while we all have our individual needs, we must do what is best for the whole, not the parts.. Too often we lose perspective and make the learning environment fit the needs without any thought to the student. When I observe this type of behavior, I remind teachers that the schools are for the students. Let’s make an effort to construct the environment with the students needs in mind. Yes, it’s not the kids because kids are the same everywhere, but yet some are in “A” schools and others in “D” schools. The students are looking to the educators for guidance and change. Seldom do we look to the students and parents for change. You made interesting observation in your post.
ReplyDeleteKelly,
ReplyDeleteI really like the last line of your post and I think it speaks volumes about the current state of education. Lately, it seems like we have been playing tug of war in education. Educators vs. students or students vs. educators...year after year! What your post suggests is that we all play a part in the classroom...teacher and student. As teachers we must be diligent in seeking the right dynamic to ensure success for all students.
In order to reach that dynamic, it may take different techniques and out of the box thinking to reach and engage our students.
Tracye Salters
Wow Kelly, this is such great insight. You brought light to a whole new perspective for me. I hadn’t even thought about the kids, I was to busy thinking about the administration. You are so right though. Within the classroom, you are the only one who can change things. If your students aren’t picking something up, you need to find a new way bring it to them. I like your comment as to not taking shortcuts. This process and way of thinking is really some hard work and unless completely involved people might be prone to skimming the edges, and that simply helps no one. Thank you for sharing this.
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