Reflecting on this week’s reading, Ms. Wild in Yo Miss! reminded me of myself in regards to being extremely mentally exhausted thinking about life while at the same time bringing what happened at work home with me. I have been teaching for about 14 years and my class this year has been one of the most challenging classes in regards to defiant behavior, lack of attention and chronic absenteeism which is a recipe for teacher burnout. Like Ms. Wild, often times I find myself at home reflecting on my challenging day, asking myself what can I do differently with child X, how can I help these students be more engaged while questioning my reason for choosing education in the first place in addition to thinking about everyday life issues such as family, finances and etc... After my mental digressions, in the end I’m reminded about how blessed I am and all the positive differences I’m continuing to make in the classroom and in my personal life and that’s what drives me. This article was just a reminder of the challenges and struggles that all teachers face and that it’s important to surround yourself with “Marigolds” (people that are going to continue to lift you up at difficult times) in the workplace and at home so that when difficult times come, you are able to push through them with a positive mindset.
My continuing education journey has continued to shed light on the importance of making ourselves relatable and human to our students. Connecting with students on a more personal level will allow them to see you in a more positive light. For example in the article, Locating Yourself for your Students, Priya was able to make an immediate connection with her students because she immediately began to speak about her feelings of alienation as a woman of color in a white school. The fact that she shared this personal information with her students immediately allowed them the opportunity to relax and view her as a human being that also faced the same issues as them which in return helped the students lower their guards. My biggest takeaway from this article is that we as teachers need to understand and respect that sometimes our students’ life experiences and upbringings sometimes create invisible guards/defenses. As a result of this, we need to make sure that we create environments in our classrooms in which we make ourselves appear human so that everyone feels welcomed, loved and safe.
I found the article on Identities and Social Locations to be somewhat complexed in the sense of how one or others views him/herself. I feel as though our self identities will continue to change and evolve as we continue to go through life. Regardless of others perception of you, it’s important that you present yourself in a manner of how you would like others to think about you.
I can relate to all that you say Porsche. Mrs. Wilde was able to capture what many of us, as teachers, experience working in an inner city school regardless of the age group. Despite the difficulties and obstacles she faces as a white teacher, she cares about her students, she wants them to succeed and reach their goals. The diversity of the students and what they face outside of school and bring into school was introduced very subtlety, as it is for us. We first identify with our students as teacher and acknowledge our students as children ready to learn. We have curriculum to teach and we start. We don't know of the unsaid, unseen obstacles of their identities that they bring to the classroom daily, yet they are there and they come out in various forms. We see, and feel the challenges and try to adjust, adapt, and implement whatever we can in the hopes of reaching the best they have to give.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your response Dawn, I agree with everything that you just stated. :)
DeletePorsche, I think that your reflections about being "relatable and human" for our students is key. This is something that I care deeply about. I find it so unsettling when colleagues employ a "teacher voice" or turn on a very different personality when they are around their students. It is so important that we model the behaviors that we want to see in our classrooms, in our schools, and in the world, and I think that so much of that is related to how we connect with our students on a personal level, and how we built an environment of trust and community in our classrooms. Part of authentic teaching is being a full and authentic person to your students.
ReplyDeleteHi Lindsay, ditto to everything you just wrote. Through experience I have found that allowing my students to see me as a person helps build our connection with each other.
DeletePorsche, Thank you for this thoughtful post. That image of Ms Wilde is very relatable indeed! I am drawn to your reflection on "making ourselves relatable and human to our students." How has your own continuing education brought this forward? How do you work to connect (in human ways) with your students?
ReplyDeleteMy best
Victoria
Hi Victoria,
ReplyDeleteOne example of that is when I truly began to incorporate translanguaging into my classroom. The process of translanguaging showed my students that I too can be a student and learn from them. My first grade students loved teaching me and others different words in his/her language. Some of the ways that I try to connect with my students is by again allowing them to teach me and others about his/her culture and language, reading books that are interesting to them, using the last 5 minutes of the day talking about things they learned as well as things outside of school that interest them. They really love our share time at the end of the day.
Hi Porsche,
ReplyDeleteI am unsurprised by the struggles you face on a daily basis as an educator, "defiant behavior, lack of attention and chronic absenteeism;" yet I want to be in awe of the myriad issues that affect your classroom. Indeed, your writing furthers the idea that we as educators are not alone in the struggles we face to do right by our students, to do right by our passions. We collect as a class with the intent to dissect "social issues in education," ultimately to arrive at a solution, or at least an acceptable reason why. I remain perplexed by the most pervasive issues facing our students across all grade levels; the very issues that should be anomalies but persist as the status quo. Why are so many students chronically absent? Can we get to the bottom of defiant behavior and curate an educational environment each child will feel safe enough to fail in? As educators, what is our role in resolving these issues beyond the obvious?