Class 9 Readings

           

1.      “This relationship involves a narrating Subject (the teacher) and patient listening Objects (the students).”

Anyone who is trying to be a teacher knows that you shouldn’t use the bank system in schooling. Students are not employees and should not be treated like a worker. Students are not just objects or puppets for the teachers to use. As teachers we need do the best we can to get rid of this idea that students cannot have a word. This is not old school teaching anymore, students need to have voices and definitely need to be heard. In order to have a good classroom experience for the students there needs to be a give and take relationship, not just a teacher centered classroom. From this quote, it seems the bank based strategy talks about the teacher and students as if they were test subjects in a chemistry lab. If students just sit there and try to absorb the knowledge there teacher is providing for them, they are not going to recall the information as well as teacher-student interaction.

2.      “Through dialogue, the teacher of the students and the students of the teacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student and student-teachers.”

Yes, this is absolutely correct because the teacher and students are actually engaged with one another. Communication is a huge aspect of student-teacher relationships, and if there is no communication between each other than the classroom atmosphere will have tension and no student engagement. If we didn’t let students have choice or discussion, as teacher we would be keeping the students from important aspects of life. These aspects would include communication skills, creativity, self-expression, freedom of choice, decision making, and speaking up about what they may or may not believe in. As a future teacher I expect to have this type of relationship with most of my students. When this quote says teacher-student, it really stands out to me because being a teacher and adult, you in no way know all the answers. As a teacher I know I will learn something new every day I go to school and interact with students. Each time a teacher hears that bell and starts a new class, the roles reverse and teachers are becoming students themselves. Just listening to your students opens up so many more doorways and opportunities for yourself as an educator.

3.      “Problem-posing education bases itself on creativity and stimulates true reflection and action upon reality…..”

When I become an everyday teacher, it sounds to me I will use the problem-based education strategy. This obviously is a great strategy because it allows the students to be creative and have their voice heard in the classroom. I believe that every education class should promote creativity within the student. I am not saying every class needs to use the problem posing strategy, but there are other ways to get the most out of the students. It is important for the students to go through true reflection and action while attending school. Students need to have that choice to reflect upon what they are learning and use critical thinking in order to put that knowledge into action. If a teacher just uses data, test, and standard based teaching than how are those students going to use the knowledge they learned and apply it to real life situation? They are not. And this is where book smarts and street smarts come into play. If a kid is a great student and gets amazing grades on tests, will this child know what to do in an actual situation? That’s where street smarts and critical thinking play a much bigger role than knowing the answers for a test.

4.      “Great teaching has been great because it placed the learner’s needs and interests first.”

If a teacher or future teacher were to look at this quote, I would expect a response similar to “Duh!”  As I learn more about education and take a deeper look at the flaws in the system, it leads me to believe that many educators do not agree with this statement. It seems so simple to understand, the students are the learner, so why wouldn’t their needs and interests be first? Some teachers just teach to do it. I believe some educators in the United States do not care if the students are retaining their lessons, but are just there to give the information to them. Some teachers have the attitude that they are not going to change their teaching styles so students can learn and improve in the subject. In fact, their attitude is, I am not here to improve students grades and make sure they get the material, but I am merely here just to give the information to the students. This would be a clear example of a teacher not doing his/her job correctly and these types of teachers should not have jobs. Great teaching is considered great because the teacher changes his/her teaching strategies in order to help the student’s needs and interests. The teachers actually care about how the students are doing and not just about getting through the material as fast as possible. This is how correct teaching can be so beneficial to the students.

5.      “No standardized test for students can ever inform us of a teacher’s enthusiasm, caring, or belief that students can be successful- three factors that have an enormous effect on student achievement and self-esteem.”

When a student gets a standardized test put in front of them without being prepared, their self confidence is going to drop immediately or they will choose not to care and give up by shutting down. I believe there is way too much standardized testing going on in the public school system and it is taking away teacher and student time from the classes. This quote makes a great point by basically saying students and teachers need that time and it is more valuable than people think. Teachers have the ability to motivate and improve student achievement just giving the students a voice. Sometimes students just want to be heard and know that someone other than his/her parents actually cares. The teacher plays a bigger role than educator, in many ways it plays parent, brother, sister, and role model; therefore keeping these students engaged and involved in schooling. Teachers cannot give up on students, they need to show a fair amount of belief in every student, if not, students will shut down and put education on the back burner.

6.      “Every classroom should have not merely a qualified teacher, but a great teacher. But for this to happen, we must move the definition of “qualified” back from quantity indicators (test scores, college degrees, number of years teaching, and other items easily tallied) and onto quality, by teaching teachers about efficacy and caring, about the ways one can empower and engage students, while allowing teachers to retain their “distinctive character”.”

This is my favorite quote from the three weeks of reading because it sums up so much information in a matter of three lines. When observing schools, people pay too much attention to the quantity indicators of the teachers, but what does quantity have anything to do with great teaching? Just because a teacher has college degrees and has a whole lot of teaching years under their belt does not mean they are a great or even good teacher. I have teachers in my major today that have the credentials and all the degrees in the world, but are lack of a better word, awful teachers. A teacher needs to be personable in order to receive great responses from their students. In my opinion you can have the word Doctor in front of your name and not encompass what it takes to be a successful and great teacher. What this quote says is, teachers need to have more than just the mastery of in the information they are teaching. They need to have the characteristics it takes to make a great teacher. These characteristics include efficacy, caring, communication, listening skills, and engaging the students in your classroom. This quote proves that affective characteristics outweigh the cognitive characteristics in being a teacher.