Opinion Pieces...
Response to Rita Pearson's Message
Monday, August 21, 2017 7:44:47 PM
I really liked what Rita had to say. Every point she made made me think back to my own favorite teachers growing up and, sure enough, they all had something in common. They taught through positivity. It wasn't about what you were doing wrong, but what you could do better. At one point, Rita says, "a child doesn't learn from someone they don't like," and I couldn't agree more with this statement. I seen this play out in my friends, peers, even my little sister, but most importantly myself. The teachers that went out of their way to make the class a little more fun made me want to try harder to give them the best work I could. I think the most important thing I learned from this TED talk was that children are people too. Just because you are in authority, or maybe they aren't the brightest student, doesn't mean they deserve any less respect from you as a teacher. The bottom line is that everyone wants to be liked and respected by the people they like, so as long as you establish this, you will be a great teacher. |
Let Care Shine Through ResponseSunday, September 10, 2017 12:41:18 PM
From this article, I learned that in order to be a good teacher, you must first value and care for each and every student you have as an individual regardless of their background. I learned that caring an pity can look the same sometimes, but they are very different. With children from less fortunate backgrounds, you must seek to help them because you want to create a more just society with equal opportunities, not because you feel bad for them. Teachers are the sculptors of all future societies-- they must maintain a critical hope for society and act towards that because they care about the future of the society. This also means that a teacher can't just teach to a basic level of understanding. Yes, that is the goal, but to be a good teacher, you want your students to excel and feel comfortable in the learning environment, to promote each of their individualities and cultural attributes that they bring with them. As a future teacher, I plan to use this information to implement a system where I am teaching both curriculum and life. I want to pass along skills that I wished my teachers had done for me, to help them in real world situations. To do this, I want to get to know my students on a more personal level that way I can judge what kind of direction to steer the kids in to help benefit them most. I have had some personal experience with my sister not thinking she will be good enough in school, which I think a good majority of kids feel the same way, so I plan to do exercises and leave feedback for students to grow from their mistakes and encourage them that all the best people make mistakes sometimes. I want to structure grading so that kids can view the learning environment that we create as an opportunity to grow; I'm not going to knock them down for not understanding something. I will set high expectations that will make things easier for them in the future, but still be there as a safety net if they need extra help getting there |
Bilingual Education: Pro or Con?Sunday, October 15, 2017 4:56:33 PM
Opinion Personally, I think that we should incorporate more Bilingual Education in schools. This is because, realistically, the people that have the ability to speak more than one language fluently have a significant advantage over those that do not in the work force. The Huffington Post article also states that, “Some studies have also found that the aging of the brain is slower and the employment rate is higher in adults with bilingual capabilities” (Lynch). Even though the benefits can be seen most clearly later on in life, there are also some benefits to it in the early stages as well. It promotes collaborative learning amongst all children because it eliminates the language barrier. Studies show that, “The children who come from English-speaking homes can lend their language expertise to friends from Spanish-speaking homes, and vice versa” (Lynch) which also helps boost children’s self-esteem and confidence in learning on all sides of the language spectrum. That being said, I do not think that it should take over every part of the learning experience. I think that it should be treated like a subject--like math or social studies. There should be a designated time in Elementary school programs where students learn the basic foundations of different languages so that when they go into high school, they are just fine-tuning their skills in the language they choose. Article Supporting: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-lynch-edd/why-bilingual-education-s_b_6168638.html Article Opposing: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1998/05/the-case-against-bilingual-education/305426/ Journal 3: |