What lengths am I willing to go to in order to do right by every child?
This week when creating this vision of what it looks like to be a teacher who goes to great lengths to do right by their students, I realized how much emotional integrity and strength you need. I think that as a teacher I will be bringing my grace to the table. Without grace, I cannot show my students the right path to learn, communicate, respect, and walk with their heads high. Lenience is a reflection of care not a lack of authority. These students also need a leader in the classroom who fights for their own good and their best. This means speaking out in a stance for equity and diversity. This means not just speaking out but speaking up for the students who are fearful in this same way. It takes the guidance of a teacher to build courage in their students and I think that I can instill this by being an example of how to be brave when it is hard and uncomfortable to be. One word you will see in my picture is consider. What does this mean for a teacher? Consideration is not only necessary it is so utterly important to consider your student in a daily school setting. I can consider home life, peer interactions, background, personality, interests, and fears. There is so much to take into consideration when teaching and interacting with your students. This can be the make or break of the engagement and educational success of a student. It is our job to step up for the sake of our students.
Hey Avery! This post was a great read, and truly made me see just how important a teacher's mindset is both inside and outside the classroom. Your emphasis on grace was notable and I loved how you talked about that, because that is something that is so important but can commonly be forgotten. Giving multiple chances, making efforts that others may not be making and taking on each day and choosing kindness to your students is not only important, but crucial. Taking each individual student into consideration is what reminds them they are loved and seen, but also that they are genuinely cared for. Teachers might think that they need to see the line between standing up and defending their students and wanting what is best for them, when in reality, there should not be a line. Each student needs an advocate, and we, as teachers, are that person for them. This was an insightful read, great post!
ReplyDeleteHey Taylor, thank you for your response. Yes, it is so true that every student needs an advocate and that advocate could be us, as their teacher!!
DeleteHi Avery!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you are very passionate about your future students which is such a great thing! As a teacher we have to be an advocate for our students because if we don't do it no one else will. We do have a lot to consider as future educators because every student is in a different situation with a different background which affects the child. As teachers we also have a personal life that we like it or not affects our work life as well so we also have that to consider when making decisions in our classroom. I do think it is important to try to keep our personal lives away from our students. The students must feel loved and cared for while in our classroom that way we build trust with them. Trust is the first step in helping them to learn and grow as a human because they are little humans.
Hi Andrea, thank you for your input! I really like how you said that trust is the first step in helping our students. This trust is initiated by the teacher and is so impactful!
DeleteHi Avery! let me start by saying Wow! I love your blog this week because it is absolutely true. I would say my favorite part of your word cloud and blog is the word consider. I think that teachers often forget that students have things going on outside of school that can affect how we interact and carry ourselves in school. We don't always see what goes on in their personal lives, we never know when someone might have lost a loved one or something is going on at home. However, sometimes we have students that trust and let us as teachers know they have something going on and need a break or may take longer to get things done that day. This is where your word consider really is important because we have to consider what is going on outside of school to be a consistent and passionate teacher. There's this guy on tiktok who plays out situations during class time, one video was about a student sleeping in class and he explained that instead of waking the student up and making them pay attention he chose to let them sleep and then talk to them after class about getting assignments done for the next day but also to check on the student. In the video he stated that the student told him his mom was sick and the child had spent the evening at the hospital. This is something to consider in our classrooms because we don't see the home life or feel the emotions they do.
ReplyDeleteHi Kristin, thank you for supporting my blog! I agree that the word consider has great importance between a teacher and a student. As teachers, we will have such a limited view of a student and their lives and this has to be taken into consideration.
DeleteAbsolutely! I also think we have to be able to see things from their perspective because to them an assignment or a feeling can be totally different than how we see it or other students see it. We may give a math assignment that they see as the hardest thing ever when to us as teachers it's something we have always done
DeleteHello! I really love your blog post! I think it is extremely important as well to be mindful of how you carry yourself in the classroom. Children see and hear everything, and sometimes people forget that! You have to be mindful of the way you are talking to your fellow teachers, and what you are talking about to be able to set a good example for the children in your classroom. I agree that it is really hard to be brave and stand up for yourself and your students, but for a lot of children the classroom is the only place they are going to experience this. Because of this you have to go out of your way to do the right thing especially when no one is watching. Being a good example for your kids is imperative for them to be able to have a model for the way they should be behaving and treating others.
ReplyDeleteHey Priya, I like that you are reflecting on this and applying it with a plan of action to be mindful of the example you set as a teacher. Students take note of what we say and do, such an important reminder for us all.
DeleteHey Avery, I really like what you said in your blog post! I love how passionate you are about teaching your future students' good values. You are right you really do need a lot of emotional integrity and strength to be a teacher. I like that you said you would be bringing your grace to the table, and we should all aspire to do that. Students absolutely need someone who fights for their own good and their beliefs. Teachers should teach in a diversely sensitive environment and speak out for equity. It's hard for students to want to be engaged or listen to what you have to say if it conflicts with their beliefs or cultures. We should make sure that our students feel safe in their environment so they feel they can be more open and honest in communication. We have to advocate for our students. We never know the students we will get and where they will come from, that's why we need to mindful and have equity to allow for equal opportunities for every student.
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