I teach so students can have a better day, so they can be appreciated, loved, understood, and pushed to what they are capable of.
As a student, I have experienced, learned, and been given so through my experiences with my peers and teachers. I formed some of the most important relationships of my life in school. It was a place where I learned to be confident with who I am and what I have to offer the world. My passions, energy, love of physical activity, relationships, empathy, and ability to connect with all people and groups all grew in school. To me school is much more than the four walls that we sit in day after day; it is more than the sum of our classes and class work. School was a starting point for my education as a human being. Our education should be a place where we learn to navigate the world and be human, not just a place where we learn the curriculum and content. The extracurricular groups, events, teams, and even simple lunch time and after school interactions can bring about some of our biggest growths as humans.
The more I was given responsibility and respected by the teacher, the more willing I was to respond and put in work. If you treat students as children, they will not feel respected; they will feel as though you think they are less than them. Students should feel that they have something to contribute, and to do that, students need to feel that they have something that others do not have to offer. If they feel the teacher is the ultimate authority, they may feel like they have nothing to contribute that you could not also contribute. If we can create an environment where we with our students are equal learners and recognize that we all have something unique to contribute, we can foster an open caring classroom.
I teach so students can become confident human beings, so that they are vessels filled with information but instead human learners. I want students to know and learn how to learn. I teach to help students find a path or reason to be inspired, excited, and passionate. I teach because I want to give back to a world that has given me so much. I teach so that students can learn to be confident humans capable of positive interactions and relationships with one another. I teach for the people that students are and want to become – I teach so they do not simply have to be students but instead people first and learners. I teach so students can have a better day, so they can be appreciated, loved, understood, and pushed to what they are capable of.
Students should be comfortable to share their thoughts and ideas in the class and know that they will be acknowledged and respected. Students should be challenged to move outside of their comfort zone and try things they have not tried before. My goal is to bring together a class to create an environment where students feel comfortable and know one another and myself and so feel willing to share and be themselves.
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