A Teacher's Advice
I was absent from work on Friday. Because of the location of my school, sometimes getting a substitute teacher is difficult. My class was split up into groups of 5 or 6 and were put into different classrooms. Yesterday, we were doing a writing game that my kids love and one of the teachers that had a group of my students on Friday came in for a visit. She looked at me, covered her heart, and said, "You are an amazing teacher. I can't believe how good and smart your kids are. I'm a second grade teacher and they were doing more than my class could. In fact, my students were amazed of how good some of them were reading and writing. Throughout the whole day, they were so positive and worked really well together. I told all the second grade teachers that whomever gets your kids next year are so lucky." That was awesome! I felt so good and proud of my students. I'm not writing this to "toot my own horn" about my teaching abilities, there is a point to be made...
Children are very influenced by adults. My students were well behaved, not because I'm a super teacher and I have something that others don't, it's that I believe in each and every one of my students. I let them know how proud I am and if they do their best in everything, no matter what...it will be good enough for me. Everyday, we practice "taking care of ourselves." If they have a problem with another child, we get to the source and we talk about it as if we were all the same age. I don't treat them like they're babies and they appreciate that. How do I know? I see it in their work, their motivation, and their attitudes. One thing that my teacher friend told me was, "Your little girl went to tattle tail on another one of your students and they actually stopped each other and said 'Ms. Bowers said to mind our own business.' And, that was it. Problem solved." I was floored. I know what I've been teaching in my room, but I didn't realize they would take it with them and apply it to life outside of my class.
My point: I'm not a parent, but I am someone who is around children all day long. The advice that I can give stems from the experiences I've had and especially recently. A positive teacher is what makes a difference. Not treating a young person like they are inexperienced is what will make them progress even more. They have the "want" and "need" to impress anyone who is listening. This approach will communicate to a child that they are good enough and smart enough to accomplish anything they put their minds to. Be the positive teacher...it's the only way.
posted by Jamie @ 7:33 AM
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5 Comments:
aww! i love this story. i am glad you see what an influence adults and especially teachers have on children, esp at that age. I remember when i was in the first grade i had a lot of anxiety about math and "times" tests. I would panic and my brain would freeze and when the teacher called "time" i hadn't done one problem. One time, my teacher came up to me and said, "julie, there are 2 kinds of people: math people and english people. you are an english person" From that day forward I had a mental block about my math abilities. i reinforced to myself that i "couldn't do math" by saying it out loud to people....for 14 years i believed i sucked at math b/c of what my teacher had told me. it wasn't until the summer before my sr. yr in college that i was forced to take calculus in order to graduate. i decided to take it in the summer b/c the class would be smaller and maybe the prof. would be able to cater more to my supposed math retardedness. well, i ended up having the first prof. ever who made me feel smart in math. he was encouraging and didn't make me feel stupid when i didn't get something. He showed me, much to my suprise, that math could actually be kind of fun, like a puzzle. I ended up getting an A+ in that class...the highest grade i got in any class during my college career. And today, guess who is the one who always figures out the tip at dinner? ;) Jamie, the kids who are lucky enough to have you as their teacher are going to thrive and grow in so many ways - i think you see it already...someday maybe they'll even write a blog about you, ha ha...
I stopped myself from getting all teary and sentimental cause it was such a great story. I wish I had had you as one of my teachers!
Oprah and I both think that teachers are some of the greatest people on the planet. I truly believe that they do not get enough credit. They do amazing things each and everyday. I mean hello...they teach the worlds future...that's a pretty HUGE thing, don't you think? I have teachers that I will never forget…ones that touched me in one way or another and ones that taught me things that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I think it's great that you have reassurance now (if you didn't already) that you're kids really are learning from you and that your lessons are being applied to their worlds outside of your classroom. What a great thing to know that you are impacting and making a difference in their lives. How cool is that?!? Good job Jamie!
Ok...so here's my 2nd grade embarrassing story, but one that has always stuck with me.
I was sitting at my desk one day and had a horrible stomach ache. In second grade we actually had a bathroom in the back of the classroom, but I was too shy to raise my hand to go. I had to go SOOO bad. I didn't want to raise my hand in the middle of class and interrupt my teacher to ask permission to go to the bathroom. But, my body couldn't take it anymore. So, I pooped myself. When I realized what had happened, I just got up and went to the bathroom and started crying. I didn't know what to do. I was a mess and so were my clothes. I just sat there in the bathroom crying. My teacher came back and knocked on the door and I let her in. She saw what had happened and felt so bad for me. She helped my clean myself up, gave me a temporary change of clothes, and called my mom and asked her to come bring me clean clothes.
She told me that from now on, I could ALWAYS raise my hand and ask a question, and I didn't have to feel bad about interrupting. She walked out of the bathroom with me and told the class that I wasn't feeling well, but was alright now. Wow, I sure was! My second grade teacher taught me that it was okay to speak up and ask a question, no matter what. She also taught me the meaning of compassion and kindness. Not many teachers would help clean up one of their students. But, she did, and it made all the difference in my little 2nd grade world, and it made a difference forever.
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