How are the students I'll teach different from me?
Students are different because they want to be different. Teachers in my generation who tried too hard to "fit in" got shunned like kids who tried too hard to "fit into" new social groups. I suppose there will always be these generational distances. Being aware - educating myself on the topics of interest to my students is good - gut ultimately students respect teachers who are confident in themselves and in their own ideas. Students who like their teachers ask their teacher's for the teacher's own opinions and thoughts. Teachers who try to hard to give their ideas get shunned.
Students will benefit when they tell me their interests and not when I try to define their interests. I should spend time the 1st day of school telling students about my parents allowing us to discover and explore lots of different activities so we could discover our own interests and talents. I think Miller does a real good job of showing teachers how they, through a students survey can discover their students interests.
It is an interesting balancing act between being friendly, not being too much of a friend (you are told that you don't need 12-year-old friends as a teacher!), and being yourself. Most student teachers want their students to "like" them, but quickly discover that it is better to command respect first. After all, can you fail a "friend?"
ReplyDeleteGood comments.