ENTRY 1: STUDENT LETTERS
Description of Entry:
On the last day of my student teaching, my sixth grade students presented me with a priceless gift. My cooperating teacher had secretly arranged for them to write letters to me in their language arts class and put them together in a binder. The collective work looked amazing, but I enjoyed the content of the letters even more. The topics of the letters ranged from thank you’s to what they enjoyed most about my class. I have selected a few of them as artifacts for this entry.
Program Goals and Targets:
In their letters, students stated that I did a good job of explaining concepts, I made math class fun, and I related to them well. In those ways, I was able to meet my student’s intellectual, social, and emotional needs, thus demonstrating my understanding of student learning and development (2A). Several students mentioned that I listen to them completely in class, give everyone a chance, and do not pressuring anyone by singling them out. These demonstrate my respect for students as learners and individuals (2C). Finally, by treating students with that respect, giving meaningful assignments, and doing my best to make math fun, I am creating a positive classroom environment where all students can succeed. In doing this, I demonstrate an ethical practice of teaching (4C).
Reflection:
The common theme of the student letters I received was that I respected my students as learners and individuals. I believe that creating teacher-student relationships based on respect and caring is not that difficult, but has a huge influence on students. Eccles and her colleagues (1993) found that behavior and motivation are strongly affected by the fit between student needs and the characteristics of their environment, and that the students are not likely to achieve in places where their psychological needs are not met. Therefore, in order to create an environment in which students have a high chance of succeeding, it is very important to meet their basic needs of being cared for and respected. During my student teaching, I tried to accomplish these in everything that I did.
While most of my students recognized and appreciated that respect and caring, they had different perspectives on how they saw it manifested. Some students felt that I respected them as learners because of the assignments. One student liked that I challenged everyone because “…you always had the best homework assignments which had both easy and challenging problems for people at different levels.” Another student appreciated the fact that the assignments were meaningful, as she stated that “the worksheets taught us something and didn’t just fill up time.”
Other students saw my respect for them in the way that I helped them. Several students appreciated the way that I gave help, such as the student that stated “if someone is having trouble on a problem, you don’t give away the answer; you just ask them to answer certain questions that help them find the answer to the problem.” Others valued the fact that I was always available to give help. One wrote that “…most teachers I’ve had would just give us the assignment then leave us to figure it out, you always make sure we understand and use your time to come around to each of us and answer all of our questions.”
Many students saw the way that I treated them as a sign of respect and caring. Several appreciated that I do not get angry, like the student who mentioned that “you don’t yell at us, because you wouldn’t want to listen to someone who is sad and yells a lot.” One student wrote, “you don’t do any [pressuring] or embarrass anyone.” Another said that “you were always fair with us and very patient.” Still others found it important that “you also make sure we all have a chance to speak and share our opinions.”
In recent decades, there has been a growing student need for a caring environment at school. This can be largely explained by the emergence and development of a youth culture, defined by its alienation from adult society. In his historical review of education, Marshak (1995) found that youth culture did not even exist in the early 1900’s, because most children worked on farms, in factories, or in family businesses. Thus, teenagers were predominantly integrated with the adult society.
Over the years however, young people gradually developed a culture separate from adults. One reason for this was urbanization. Many children were moved away from communities where they had consistent ties with adults other than their parents. Another reason was the nation-wide post-war prosperity, which allowed kids to have money to take part in youthful activities. Technological discoveries, such as the television and radio, also played a part, as they connected teenagers across the country.
While youth culture has changed significantly from the 1950’s to the present, “the central themes are identical: alienation from the adult society, threaded with despair, nihilism, and a countervailing hopeful idealism” (Marshak, 1995, p. 32). Because of this disassociation, it is important that we re-engage teenagers in adult society by meeting their basic need to be cared for and respected. Students have always had this basic need, but it was traditionally met outside of the classroom. As times have changed, so must teachers. It is now our responsibility to make sure that these needs for caring and respect are met.
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