I finally have been assigned to a teacher who is passionate about what he does (teaching history) and has a significant effect on his students mainly due to his positive attitude!!! The second day of practicum I arrived at 7:30 and stayed until 11:30 because I was taking in so much information through observation on how to get middle school students excited about being in the classroom. Thus far, I have had the opportunity to interact with the students while they were working on group activities. It has been quite a challenge getting some students "started" and movtivated towards reaching the goal(s) set for the day. However I'm getting better at it everyday I'm there.
My "eye-opening experience" occured last Tuesday when my placement teacher told me that a student of his had lost his mom to a drug overdose, his dad was working three jobs and was never at home, half of the roof to their house was missing so it rained inside the house and the other half of the house had an unlevel floor so the student had to push his bed up against a wall every night and his bed, with him in it, would slowly slide down the floor during the duration of the night. That same student also plays on the football team which my placement teacher helps coach. My teacher explained to me how some students look at him as more than just their teacher or their coach because for some of them, he's the only encouragement the student(s) have. My placement teacher also told me that he always tells his students at the beginning of the year that he cares about them and their success. He went on to tell me that he's seen students tear up, and sometimes even cry, because they are unnoticed at home yet at school someone does care about them and their success. The student I mentioned above was one he noticed tearing up on the first day of school when he told the class that he cared.
This was a positive eye-opening experience for me because everything my placement teacher told me that day can't be found in any textbook I read. I knew that some of the students didn't have the greatest life but I had no idea it was that bad for some. For the first time, it finally clicked on how much of an impact I will have on my future students.
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I agree whole-heartedly. My teacher is also passionate about teaching the young students of Newport. He went to school there, and while he no longer lives there, you can tell that there is a sense of pride he has for his school. But greater than the prides, is his concern for the students.
At first, I was surprise by how talented a teacher he was. I don't guess I should have been surprised, however. There are great teachers of all types.
Being with a teacher who was once a student in the same school has made me think that teaching at my old school might be really, really cool.
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