Reflection 10

I believe that to become a teacher who leaves an impact on students, once must have talent. I do not think it is just knowing the facts and having lesson plans. You need to keep the interest of students and the younger they are the harder that is. A student must also feel safe in the classroom. The classroom is where they spend a lot of time and many students can feel vulnerable and it is our job as teachers to make them feel comfortable. I agree with the article in all aspects. A teacher should create a safe zone for the students to feel welcome. Also, the way a teacher arranges the student’s desks and her/his desk can have positive results. In choosing a student to speak vs. letting a student volunteer, I think I would ask any students if they had any opinion or wanted to speak out and if I saw that no one was responding I would then call out a student and try to go back and forth during the discussion. Class discussions are always a good way to have the students feel more involved and I believe more students actually understand better and pay more attention because it is an active way of being informed rather than just going to class and having the teacher tell them to open their books to a page and for the entire class do work. A teacher should welcome diversity and not be intimidated by not knowing what to say because he/she does not want to offend anyone. Some teachers may point out a student with a question pertaining to their ethnicity just because they are of that race and it is important not to do so because that will make the student feel uncomfortable and feel offended. Such a question should be left for anyone to answer and give their opinion. Assigning students to do group work is a good way to have students break the ice between on another and it gives them a sense of taking charge and learning how to deal with different ideas and opinions. In my writing class the majority of the work is always done in a group. This group was chosen by the teacher. At first I did not want to be part of the group because I felt like I was being forced into working with people I didn’t know and felt that if someone started to slack I would have to pick up the extra weight. However this did not happen and one of the other students has helped me out tremendously in my work. Sometimes things do not work out so easily but it is important to at least try so that the students can get a sense of working with people just like how it is in the job market. I agreed with this article and I found it to be very helpful and informative for when I have a classroom of my own.