I am sharing some thoughts I had first expressed in 2010 because I feel they are still relevant. I originally wrote this blog old school, pen and paper. I was an Educational Assistant at the time, and I was frustrated by what I had witnessed in the classroom that day. For me, what I witnessed help solidify my teaching philosophy, it boils down to one word: dignity. Every interaction must leave my and my students' dignity in tact.
January 18, 2010
As I sit in my sub-servant roll as a Teacher's Aide why is it easy to judge? Is it because I see myself with my own classroom, its it because I am to eager to be at the front of the room or is there something else?
Does just a desire to be a teacher make a teacher? Or is it the willingness to always be a student that makes a teacher?
Everyday my goal is to learn and grow so that I may help the children learn and grow. I believe that is my job. That by merely obtaining a Bachelor of Education does not make me the foremost authority on everything.
Each child has something to offer me and it is with great humility that I accept that and learn to work with it. I feel the curriculum is secondary or tertiary to how a child feels and is able to learn in my presences. At the end of each day I ask myself, did I do what I could today to make a positive impression upon that child? Did I smile at them, did I look into their eyes, give them my undivided attention for that moment and ask how they were, and really, really listen to their answer. I strongly feel that the student teacher relationship must be mutually respectful and that everyone' dignity must be left in tact. I feel it is deplorable to demean any child in our classrooms as this may be the only safe place they have.
As the classroom teacher I do not have the right to publically ridicule a child in front of his peers. High school is har enough for most of these students, I need to be an ally not an enemy.
Every child has the right to receive an education in a positive environment that is of my making.
January 18, 2010
As I sit in my sub-servant roll as a Teacher's Aide why is it easy to judge? Is it because I see myself with my own classroom, its it because I am to eager to be at the front of the room or is there something else?
Does just a desire to be a teacher make a teacher? Or is it the willingness to always be a student that makes a teacher?
Everyday my goal is to learn and grow so that I may help the children learn and grow. I believe that is my job. That by merely obtaining a Bachelor of Education does not make me the foremost authority on everything.
Each child has something to offer me and it is with great humility that I accept that and learn to work with it. I feel the curriculum is secondary or tertiary to how a child feels and is able to learn in my presences. At the end of each day I ask myself, did I do what I could today to make a positive impression upon that child? Did I smile at them, did I look into their eyes, give them my undivided attention for that moment and ask how they were, and really, really listen to their answer. I strongly feel that the student teacher relationship must be mutually respectful and that everyone' dignity must be left in tact. I feel it is deplorable to demean any child in our classrooms as this may be the only safe place they have.
As the classroom teacher I do not have the right to publically ridicule a child in front of his peers. High school is har enough for most of these students, I need to be an ally not an enemy.
Every child has the right to receive an education in a positive environment that is of my making.
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