Big Question #9 - How do you plan to leave your “mark” on your students, your peers, your school, or your profession?
As my students leave my classroom, I really want them to pick up on a few things. I want them to believe that they can understand literature. If they have it in their minds that they can, then they will continue to strive to be able to. I want them to know that I am not always right, and also, they will not always be right. It is OK to be wrong, because that is how we figure out what is right. In literature, as long as you can justify your thoughts with context or background information, then you can be just as valid as anyone else. I know that analyzing literature won’t be a normal part of everyone’s day once these students are out of high school; I just want to show them a little insight into how people think and interact with one another and instill in them the passion to know “why.”
I hope that my peers and coworkers will be able to feel that I have brightened their days, too. I want them to know that they can always come to me if they need anything and I will try to help. I hope that they will be able to steal as many ideas from me as I do them. I hope that as long as I am a teacher, I will be able to say that through the challenges, this profession will be rewarding and fun.
I want to let the students think, and encourage them to think for themselves. They are smart, they just have to be told that someone believes in them and that they can do it. Then they need to be pushed into their potential. That is how I hope to leave my mark.
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3 comments:
I like everything that you’ve written in this post. You discussed how you hope to leave you mark not only on your students, but on your peers as well. I especially enjoyed what you mentioned about enabling your students to think for themselves. I am also very glad you stated that you want your students to realize that they, as well as yourself, will not always be right and that’s okay.
I was fortunate enough in high school to have a few English teachers who also expressed that as long as you could support your thoughts about a particular piece with relevant context and background information you could be as valid as anyone else. Having teachers like this helped me to realize that even I can analyze literature and take different and important things away from it, even though I’m not an English teacher. Although analyzing literature certainly isn’t a part of my daily life, I feel that because of them, I can have a deeper appreciation for it.
I really like your idea that students should know “I am not always right, and also, they will not always be right. It is OK to be wrong, because that is how we figure out what is right.” This statement is so true. So many students think that the world is black and white. Throughout school I thought that there was a right answer and a wrong answer. But we live in a world of color. As long as students can justify their thoughts or actions by using data or other background information could mean that their answer is possible. Also, we all need to make mistakes and be wrong in order to learn. Pushing our students to their potential is a wonderful idea. Our students need to be pushed so that they can see their own potential. All to often students do no believe in themselves so they just don’t do something because they think that hey cant. With the right encouragement students and see their own potential.
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