Articles like these remind me why I chose this profession. Like Jennifer, I can become disappointed or discouraged as I work through these internship days. I have to be reminded that these are humans, like myself, that I am teaching, educating. Jennifer Collins gave some great pointers that I can see more realistically now that I have spent over half a semester in the secondary education setting. The students are not always going to respond to me or do what I ask, but thats okay, and I’m learning that. I am extremely concerned with making my lesson plans perfect or at least something worth learning! I’m working on what is effective, what will work and if it too much or too little. I feel bad for my mentor teachers because I’m constantly bugging them on how I’m doing, if this idea is feasible, does it match your current plan for the semester… and the list goes on. Jennifer Collins helped ground me even further in my decision to teach and to give myself a break.
Let Care Shine Through is another great article to remind me why I decided to go into this career. Culturally relevant critical teacher care is a term that I’ve heard and used in application in my other classes. Strangely, this is how I always viewed teaching. The term is used for “historically undeserved children”, but I believe it is a teacher’s duty to always “show insight into the sociopolitical realities of students’ lives.” I believe as educators it is our job to be culturally aware because each student comes with a different story, different history and different outlook on life. I agree that we have to truly care in order to make any difference in these students’ lives.
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/classroom-management-tips-novice-teachers-rebecca-alber