After reading the article,"teaching for Social Justice", i began thinking of many things. The author of this writes five tips for successful thinking.
the first point discusses holding onto your morals as a teacher. i remembered the case in PA where the school was requiring science teachers to teach about the theory of creationism in public schools. this was a violation of their constitutional rights. there were a handful of teachers who refused to do so. they were ridiculed and punished. i believe what they did was the right thing. they knew that what was being taught was the wrong thing and they went against the grain and stood true to their conscience.
the second point reminded me of a professor i have at Salem. she is completely passionate about what she does. i have honestly never met someone who loves their job as much as her. however, as a teacher, she kind of sucks! she is totally unorganized and discombobulated. her class is poorly run and i feel like i never learn as much as i should have. she puts an enormous amount of effort into what she does, she just doesnt know how to be a good teacher. this point reminded me of her because it deals with the author having the same issue. he was passionate about what he did he just didnt know how to incorporate being passionate with making sure his students were up to par.
the third point was about teaching styles. a style is something that i consider to be unique to every person. i have seen many different teachers and each on has their own style. one in particular that stuck out to me was a teacher i observed in Salem, MA. he had a very unique style. humor was his tactic and he made all of his kids feel welocme, comfortable and accepted. he could joke around with them in ways i have never known acceptable. he wasnt innappropriate, he was just a little over the top sometimes. he had a student teacher last year that was very dry, used big words, had a very matter-of-fact professional manner and was this teachers total opposite. it was funny watching them interact. i felt like the teacher really believed in his style and thought everyone should be just like him. he would often criticize his student teacher for not being like him. i dont think there was anything wrong with either teaching style. they both had something to offer their students and how they got their lessons across didnt really matter. they were both great teachers and were able to grab their attention and keep it. having your own style is important but accepting the styles of others is valuable as well.
the fourth point was about creating a community that includes your classroom. this is important. the values you instill in your class can be great. but once those kids go home, they have a whole new set of morals and values. in order to really make these kids learn, grown and change you have to get the community you are a part of involved. you have to let the parents know what your trying to do so they are able to cooperate and move forward with you.
the last point was about being good to yourself. thats always important! if your not happy with yourself it will show in your classroom. you need to have things in your life that dont involve your job sometimes. this reminded me of the case study we did about the man who taught by day and owned a licquor store by night. you cant run yourself down like that, you need a little fun in your life!
check out:
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/15_02/Just152.shtml
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