From Here…
// November 22nd, 2009 // Features
It seems that lessons are where you find them. I have been involved in a lot of planning and meetings and all the other stuff that as an Instructional Coach steers me away from the classroom. But once again as I have found before students are the salvation. I got a chance to work in multiple classrooms last week and the students energy infected me faster than H1N1. Teaching for me is so much a learning process and that is the draw. All of us get frustrated from time to time but the advantage we have with teaching is that we can adjust. We can say from here I will change this or strive for that. The reasons we come to teach are varied but I find for most of the people I see the commitment is deep and meaningful. So if you get worn, stop adjust and say. From here I will…….
24 Responses to “From Here…”
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- Michelle Baldwin said: Nice post, Dale. I like the connection to "motion"...
- admin said: To muddy the water some more, Joe, what does one d...
- Joe said: Passion helps, and is indeed a benefit to the teac...
- Lindsay said: How crazy to think about how far technology has co...
- Lindsay said: I am experiencing summer fever almost as much as I...
- admin said: The technology class will show where the light swi...
- From Here...
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I myself am not a teacher yet, but I believe that teaching is not for the person who easily gives up and the person that decides to teach has to be prepared for the ups and downs of the students in the classroom. A teacher that is not willing to change for the betterment of their students might want to rethink being a teacher, because with teaching, things don’t always go to plan and you have to be on your toes. But sometimes maybe the teacher isn’t teaching the right thing either… I used to be a music education major, I tried it out, and I hated it. But I still realized that after interacting with little kids all the time that I still wanted to teach. So I switched to elementary education. Sometimes I feel teachers or future teachers just need to reevaluate their goal plan and figure out what it is that they really want. If the teacher isn’t into their students or what they are teaching, it is not very fair to them, because then their education is compromised with a teacher that might not care. And when a problem arises they are not trying to adjust to the problem, they just want an outlet out of teaching period.
It’s rather interesting how many different reasons people enter this profession. Educators don’t exactly get payed the big bucks, but I think that says something about those who choose this profession nonetheless. There needs to be that dedication you mentioned, the passion to teach, and the love for the job (even if there are some stressful days that slip in).
I would love a six figure salary as much as the next college student, but I wouldn’t switch from my elementary ed major for anything.
It’s comforting to read that you feel you are constantly learning and growing as a teacher. One of the fears I have about teaching is obviously the fear of failing, or not being able to adequately teach the important information. It’s good to know that teaching is a constant adjustment– that there is always room to improve and strive to be better.
As a college student with a secondary education major this is encouraging to hear. I have been excited to teach ever since I have changed my major from health to teaching. It is a great feeling knowing I will get to spend time with people and teenagers every day. The cool thing (and I think most teachers could say this) is being around people is what gives me extra energy. Another example to kind of go along with the kids motivating you in the classroom is a summer camp I have done the past two summers. It is a week long camp for abused kids and it is tough getting constantly torn in two. As the week goes on it is not uncommon to find out some of the abuse the kids have faced which is usually brought up randomly by the kids and takes you by surprise. I say I got torn in two because I am painfully reminded of why the kids are at the camp, even though they seem like the best kids in the world that no one could possibly harm. The other side of this bitter-sweet is trying to make the best week for these kids. I have been paired up with two of the greatest little guys ever both summers and they put me through more in that one week of camp than I ever go through in one week of my life. Spending 24/7 with them gets tiring especially because they are fighting for the attention they usually do not get. Even though I get more physically and emotionally tired than I ever get, thinking about and being around the kids just keeps me going. It is amazing to think of the power kids can give us and I can’t wait to be an educator.
Going along with all of the planning and meetings you mentioned that have taken you away from the classroom… I really had no idea how much planning and learning of new skills/information goes into the profession of teaching when I first declared my Elementary Education major. I am a college student and am just finishing up my very first practicum in an elementary school. My cooperating teacher discusses her lesson plans with me and talks about all the classes and workshops she has taken and is taking (many she takes over school breaks) for a variety of subjects and purposes. She is a teacher that has her master’s degree and has been teaching for 25 years. This made me realize that the learning process for teachers continues throughout their ENTIRE careers. There are always new things to learn: new methods and strategies, new technology, and new lessons in the curriculum. In order to be the best possible teachers we can, it is important to collaborate and take it upon ourselves to stay up-to-date and adjust to change. This is so exciting to me and is one of the main things that draws me to this profession!
I agree, that whenever you are teaching it is definitely a learning process. No matter how prepared and in control you may think you are, somehow, it always seems that you are forced to adjust. In turn, you learn not only how to teach more effectively, but how to better relate to those who you are working with.
I was always so frustrated growing up when I had a teacher that had no “passion” or even interest in teaching. I remember a specific teacher in middle school that was especially terrible. She would write our assignments on the board before class and when we came in we were expected to sit down in silence and work on that assignment for the entire class period. We werelucky if she even said hello to us at the beginning of the class period, At the end of class we would turn them into a basket on her desk. She would grade them overnight and then leave them in the basket for us to pick up the next day. This went on for weeks. One day, a student asked the teacher if we could work in a group on a specifically difficult assignment. She called him “lazy” and sent him right back to his desk. This woman had no desire to teach. I didn’t even know why she was there.
Being an educator is not an easy task. So many things go into teaching. However, to be a teacher you need to have some kind of desire to teach. The students should be the priority. We need to be more selective about our educators, because one teacher can make a huge difference.
From my limited practicum experience, I can say that one of the most beneficial traits to bring to the classroom is a high amount of energy. Simply put, students respond to charismatic individuals.
I think this is one of the most challenging, yet rewarding and fun parts about teaching. As humans, we hate to “fail” like will inevitably happen sometimes in the classroom. We want nothing more than to just give up and throw in the towel as to assure ourselves that we won’t fail again in that area. The unique ability teachers have (or at least good ones) is that the areas in which we struggle are the areas that need the MOST attention and allow for the most growth. Not many jobs allow such easy and open chances at second efforts.
I think that is one of the appeals to teaching. To help someone learn while at the same time, learning something yourself. I imagine it is quite rewarding. In my opinion its an essential skill to good teaching. I remember some of the best teachers I have ever had possessed that unique ability to adjust to the given situation. I always admired that no matter what they were always trying to get better as teachers so that they could help us as students understand. As a future teacher, I hope I am able to apply the same skills of adaptation and receive the satisfaction of knowing I helped someone and maybe even inspire them as much as they inspire me to be a great teacher.
I finally met the other teachers in the second grade at the elementary school where I had my practicum during the last week I was there during a presentation in the library. You could tell one of the teachers did not want to be there AT ALL. When the students got up to leave she was not being nice or professional when she was telling the students to get in line. I have heard rumors about the same teacher yelling at her students in class. Acting in an uncivilized manner is not going to get things done with unruly students. If I did not want to be teaching elementary students, I would get a different job. A six figure salary would be nice, but I don’t care about the money, the kids are what matter. And teachers should care about being professional too even if they don’t want to be there.
We have all had teachers that for whatever reason did not want to be in the classroom. And of course, we attended that class with a negative attitude about the subject, the instructor and perhaps even school in general. Students will always pick-up on the attitude of the instructor!
Yes, there will be days when getting out of bed is a struggle or the copier is broken and the lesson doesn’t work as planned; however, it is part of education to transition and appreciate the opportunity to have a captive audience of students to teach and learn from.
Education isn’t a flashy, high status job – But there is no other profession that allows someone to inspire young people and prepare them for a bright future every single day.
If a teacher truly doesn’t want to be there – perhaps they shouldn’t be. But on those difficult days it’s important to take a deep breath and reflect on the goals and joys of teaching.
These are great thoughts. I have run into a few teachers like those Ashley is speaking about, but I have to say the majority I work with day in and day out are the complete opposite. Burnout happens to some for good reason. It is very easy to become disillusioned by some of the things happening in schools, but there is so much more good happening than bad. Today was the first day of the second semester. I have 120 new students. The possibilities are endless, and it’s a chance to make the experience better for my new students than I did last semester. Students DO feed off our energy, and I am trying to be constantly aware of the messages I’m sending. Happy teaching, everyone.
I am a first year college student majoring in Secondary Education with an endorsement in Math. I have wanted to be a teacher since I was very little, but I went back and forth on the idea in high school. Finally, coming to college, I realized the things that I was worried about in high school about being a teacher were not what I should be thinking about. I realized that I need to do something that I really want to do. I realized that teaching is just that. I have always enjoyed learning. I want to help students learn also. Being a teacher you must constantly keep learning and have to adapt each year, even day to day to the students. I think that is part of why I want to be a teacher, I do not want to be doing the same thing day in and day out. I want to be in a job where I will have to be on my toes and always be learning and adapting. I want to do everything I can to help the students, because in the end, that’s why I’m getting into this career. It is not just for me, but the fact that I want to help the kids. I had several teachers in high school who I thought maybe got into the teaching career for the wrong reasons, or possibly got into with the right intentions but lost those intentions somewhere in the process. They became “lazy” teachers and began to not care about the students. I think teachers always need to keep the students in mind everyday in order to be the best teachers.
I am a freshman in college and I just started on the road to becoming an elementary education major. Even though I haven’t had many experiences with teaching yet I have had a few thanks to my practicum experience, and I’ve loved them all. The other day my teacher was frantically running around trying to get something she had to complete finished. She asked me if I would help her teach the lesson she needed to and I nervously said I would. I started out nervous, but I quickly fell into place and felt comfortable with what I was doing. I also really enjoyed it and sort of got a rush from doing it. I had to adapt to something that she threw onto me and I wasn’t quite sure what to do yet, but i succeeded and loved it. The experiences like that I think are priceless and you learn so much from just jumping in and doing something. I was praised and told that i did an excellent job which made me want to continue to do lessons and teach more. This was my first experience like this and since then there have been more like it, each still giving me that rush, but me not feeling so nervous about teaching. I think that it’s very important that everyone adapts especially in the teaching profession because you never know what’s going to be thrown at you next.
I’m am currently still in school and studying educational family science. I am excited to finally get in a school and discover these ‘life changing moments.’ I had a practicum last semester in a 7th grade math classroom. It was rewarding for me to interact with these students. The school was at an 80% poverty level. The schools that I grew up in where now where near that. It was an eye opening opportunity for me to see students like this and to see how much more the teachers in situations like this have to change the way they teach or the way they interact with their students based on their homelife. I’m excited to get in a classroom of my own and adapt to the students in the ways they need.
I have recently in the last year changed my major from Pre-Radiology to Educational Family Science. I am very excited to finally get in a classroom and have these ‘life changing’ experiences for myself. I currently teach dance classes which is different from and actual classroom setting but it still is certianly a learning process. I love when I can see the girls understand and perform the new step that I have taught them. I think that teaching is definelty a better fit for me. I think this is where I can use my strengths better. As for me, I am planning on teaching for two years then getting my masters in cousiling. I want to be able to help children understand themselves and why things are the way they are.
Hi! I am currently a student at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and I found your comment very encouraging. As I am on my way to have a career in speech-language pathology, I have found that the way I picture things going is not how things usually end up. I have become very good at expecting the unexpected and I know that in my future career, I will have to do the same. I keep reminding myself that it is okay to make mistakes because it is from those that we learn. I think that children embrace this philosophy. I have not come across too many kids under the age of 10 that worry too much about making mistakes.
hello, i am Yue, a sophomore at the university of Nebraska-Lincoln. education is my major and i’m taking a practicum class at a nearby middle school. i knew a couple of current teachers now and from our conversation, i get a brief image about this job. i agree with most of them that teacher is one of the most important job in this entire world (hopefully, my personal belief is acceptable to you), however, it is also a bad-paid job. does this mean that from the day we choose to become an educator, we should have the preparation to become ” not rich”? or dose it mean that, from here, we join the most meaningful group of our society? how can we value and identify our career as a teacher? i’m still working with these questions …
I am only a freshman, but I already realize that the students fuel the teachers just as much if not more than that teachers fuel the students. Teachers make the environment, but the students contribute to sustaining that environment. I am planning on becoming a high school teacher. I want to become a teacher so that I can make a positive impact on the lives of my students. The truth is that they will more than likely affect me more than I affect them, and that is one thing about teaching that I am looking forward to.
I agree with many of the things that have been said. Teaching brings something different everyday and every year you teach. For every student you have you have to approach the situation and the teaching style. And you can learn from the students and you can learn things from your colleagues everyday in how to try different things in the classroom and your different teaching styles. You have to adapt to the settings each class brings and when times get tough you just have to take a deep breath and find the solution for the problem that may arise.
From here I will always strive to be the best teacher I can be for my students. I have always wanted to be a teacher, and with 8 years of babysitting and 2 practicum experiences, I know that this is the right path for me (even if we do not get that much money). As long as we remember that we are here for the betterment of the students, no matter who they are and what talents they possess, we will succeed in our efforts.
Posts like these make me even more certain about my choice to become a teacher. I think your thoughts are so great and so encouraging. I think too often teaching gets a negative rap, but in the end, I think it is the most rewarding job one can find. And you are so right that not only can we be helping students to learn, but we can learn so much from them as well. Young people can sometimes be difficult to deal with, but their enthusiasm and zest for life is truly infectious.
I too fell that teaching is something you need to have a passion for. It can get very stressful at times and even down right frustrating. When i did my practicum there were times that i got very frustrated with the students. It was times like these that i had to back up and readjust my attitude and drive. These are the times that I feel strengthen my skills as a soon to be teacher.