Blog 10: The Final Blog

Throughout the corse of the semester, I learned about what goes on inside of a school through personal experience, how to recognize the students and their potential, and the qualities it takes to make a well respected and qualified teacher. Not many understand what its like to be a teacher and understand the struggles that the job entails. Teachers not only deal with the struggles of creating lesson plans, but they also deal with the struggles that their students have to live with on a daily basis. These struggles can include bullying, understanding the needs and life of each individual student, students in the inner-city schools, ideas of what makes a good school and the structures of education and how to teach it. In the beginning of the semester, the class went through reasons as to why each one of us wanted to be a teacher. Reflecting on this question, I remember that the reason I wanted to be a teacher, is to give back and encourage kids to do well in life and reach their potential. There are too many kids throughout the United States and world, that don't have a good life at home, with supporting guardians to encourage them in their life. There are so many students, who don't know what guidance is, and don't know how to push themselves to success. That is one of the most important jobs and roles of a teacher. I remember one morning, I woke up just wanting to be a teacher. At the time, I wanted to be a nurse and bio major at JCU and had been thinking about teaching a little bit here and there but didn't want to teach because of the low income. So I continued my life wanting to be a nurse until one morning I just woke up and wanted to be a teacher. Reflecting back on that morning, I realize that it was a calling. Not everyone just wakes up knowing what they want to do with the rest of their life, I however was blessed for that opportunity. I hope to bring my students more knowledge than I was given throughout the years. I not only plan on teaching by the lesson plans and books, but from the experiences I have had throughout the years as well. Personal experiences always helped me fit the picture the point of what my teacher was trying to talk about and kept my attention in class. Teachers on a daily basis, have to level with the students and understand how each student works and learns. Its a give and take experience. In chapter 6, it specifically discusses how each student and teacher learn from one another. It discusses how some students with disabilities such as reading comprehension, test anxiety and other learning impediments, need special attention from teachers. I myself, am a student with severe reading comprehension and I know over the years, constant help and attention from the teachers was always helpful in the sense of how it improves my learning. With the constant help from Special Ed teachers and my teachers in the classroom, I was able to learn from them and it was extraordinarily helpful for the teachers as well. My story is an example of how the teachers and I had a give and take experience. One of the struggles that goes on in inner-city school systems is the fact that students grow up without people that care about them. Building bridges is a keen factor to have when being an educator. Building bridges is a form of building a connection between the teacher and student, and the teacher and family/guardians of the student. Learning how each work and understanding the life of the students is one of the most important parts in the teaching career. The involvement of parents in the lives of the students, is able to bring about the potential of the student. This is because the right influences and guidance can bring success and encouragement to whatever the student sets their mind too. It was discussed in chapter 18 of "Educational Foundations" that there are students who don't have the luxury of caring guardians and parents, and the effects of it is shown in the classroom, from the defiance in their behavior to low grades on homework and tests. Teachers that blame the students are defended as teachers who haven't built a strong enough bridge with the students and their families. These teachers jump right to conclusions without intaking any empathy in the situation. It is teachers of my generation and the next, that will help shape young students into well educated adults to enter the working field one day. The more a teacher is able to understand and level with the student, the better off the student will be one day and it is the connection between the students and teachers, that is able to aid the student into reaching success. Another problem that occurs in the inner city school systems, is the lack of funding it brings within the education system. In inner-city schools, the students education quality is far from good verses a school in a good district or private school. As a result, it leaves unequal educational opportunities for the students. The worst feeling for a student or teacher is a feeling of hopelessness. There have been schools with lacks of funding for man-years now but it is getting worse and becoming a bigger problem as the years go on. It's hard for a student to reach a higher level of success if they were not given the same educational opportunities as other students. The inner-city schools should merge with schools in the same or near-by districts to refrain this problem and find a reasonable solution for this. This is another example of struggles the teachers have to deal with and other people throughout the community as well. The things that make up a good school in my eyes are the teachers, the books, the staff and administration, students, communication, peace, respect and understanding. The teachers alone have the ability to make a school good or bad. What a teacher brings to the table can make a class interesting or boring, keeping the attention of the students of losing it. The forms of learning and books to learn with also make up a good school. If a school has bad books or if the teacher never comes up with new ideas to teach a class, the lack of attention the student will bring. During my field observations over Spring Break, I first-hand saw that some teachers made class very entertaining and fun to be in while others were straight lectures, leaving kids to sleep in class, text or tweet on their phones, work on other homework assignments or talk amongst one another while a teacher was talking. This list includes everything but paying attention, and if I were a student in that class I would have done the same thing because no one wants to pay attention in a boring classroom. The field trips that were taken during the course of the semester was an eye-opener for me. They gave me examples of different schools and how each teacher taught. When we went to Cleveland Heights High School, it was a good experience because the teacher I observed was a math teacher who made the class super fun and light hearted to be in. The kindergarden and third grade class at Boulevard Elementary School had the ability to learn with one another and kern with the teachers. The fifth grade class at Boulevard Elementary School had a more stern teacher who laid down the law when the students were misbehaving. It didn't take long for the students to behave in class and have respect for the teacher. The field trips only reemphasized the ideas of teaching and being stern with the students and making it fun for my class to learn one day. This semester I went through a lot of personal experiences that made me grow and mature as a person. I learned to be a harder thinker and think out solutions in the field of education. From the field trips, individual field observations, class readings and discussions, I learned some of the many qualities it takes to be a good teacher one day. The most important job of a teacher is to reach a mutual understanding between the students and teachers and teachers and parents. Communication is key when being a teacher, and understanding the personal life of students and how each student works, is one of the most important qualities to obtain within the field of teaching. When I first came into the class, I thought I would just lean about techniques to be a good teacher and learn how to format a lesson plan. I left this class learning a far more deeper meaning behind the career. The experiences I over came only helped broaden my knowledge of becoming a teacher and prepared for me for what will lie ahead next year and the years to come.