Written in April, 2002 as part of a master's portfolio
As a teacher, I feel that it is my duty to "connect" with my students. Although I value their friendship, this is not my ultimate goal; instead, I aim to discover connections between the student and the curriculum that will create the most relevance for the learner. I cannot assume that because of a student's ethnic heritage, social background, or economic status that I can use a cookie-cutter approach to engage them in the act of learning. Instead, I must take it upon myself to try my best to recognize the individual and their values, strengths, and abilities in order to teach them well.
I must be careful to not approach this as an act of empathy; I am attempting to understand the student in order to create a more informed knowledge base of what "works" for them and what does not. If I am engaging 75% of the students in my classroom, I am doing well, but I am not achieving my goal of "connecting" with the entire class. I must appreciate each learner's style and try to address it as much as I can, both in and out of the classroom. I have tried to incorporate activities that involve multiple intelligences (MIs) in my classroom, and these seem to have been beneficial for all students. Even if one particular part of a lesson primarily appeals to only a few students, there are still several more to whom this MI method is useful. By trying to use as many MI processes as possible, I can hope to reach most, if not all, of my students.
By endeavoring to "connect" with my students, I may also learn more about their lives, both inside and outside of school, and use this information to help teach them. For example, I might learn that one student performs and competes with his spoken word poetry, and I may be able to have him participate more in class by reading a few of his works. Instead of dismissing a young girl's frequent absences from class as a lack of desire to attend school, I may discover a deeper-seated problem stemming from a history of abuse. Although I recognize that not all students may volunteer personal information to a teacher, I feel that it is important to make myself available as someone who is able to help, whether it is in the role of a tutor or simply as someone on hand to listen.
I envision an ideal classroom as one that is student-centered. My relationship with the students will be displayed not only through our "connections", but also through the characteristics of our classroom. I believe that students are more open to learning if they are comfortable in the setting in which they are taught. This would be exemplified in a classroom that students may call their own. Instead of having bare walls or pre-printed posters scattered sparsely throughout the room, I choose to decorate my classroom with student essays and projects. The chalkboard behind my desk in my current student internship is literally covered with colorful family trees, student essays, and class-created "phrase poems", to name a few items. The students enjoy having their work displayed for others to see, and the presentation of their work is a constant reminder to me of how valuable quality, engaging work can be.
My teaching style reflects my desire to have a student-centered classroom. Over the past year, I have shied away from multiple-choice exams that require rote memorization, and have shifted instead towards a constructivist classroom. From research articles I have read and what I have witnessed in my own students, teaching for understanding is much more valuable than teaching for short-term memory. I have tried to incorporate applied knowledge essays into my lessons, with extraordinary results. Students are much more likely to fare well when writing a comparison of themes in a text to similar concepts in their own lives than they are when writing a simple book summary.
I have tried desperately to turn my students away from the idea that the teacher is the only person who holds the correct answer. In the fall, many of the students in the class of freshmen that I was teaching were hesitant to even offer their opinions regarding the book we were reading. Using small-group discussion circles and encouraging student opinions instead of negating them (as long as they were able to support their assertions) helped tremendously to increase student involvement and, more importantly, student self-esteem. The same group of freshmen in the spring have been much more likely to volunteer ideas in class discussions without fear that what they say will immediately be classified as "wrong".
Overall, I am in favor of creating a positive classroom environment for both students and teachers. It is important to focus on strengths instead of weaknesses in order to push students towards achieving the best that they can. However, I assert that this can only be accomplished if we, as teachers, make the effort to learn about our students and make the "connections" so crucial to engaged learning. If we do not try to know our students, how will we be able to effectively teach them?
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