Authenticity

When I think about dispositions that are important for an educator, authenticity is not the first one that comes to mind.  Nevertheless, it is important to education.  I cannot stand a teacher who attempts to win his or her students over and become best friends with them.  There are times when it is appropriate for a teacher to share a story or piece of information about his or her personal life, but when things become too personal, it becomes difficult to gain the respect of students.  My personal experiences have shown me that a teacher who becomes too friendly with his or her students loses some of the respect that is required in the classroom.  When a student misbehaves or does poorly, it can seem more like a personal attack.  On the other hand, it is important for a teacher to attempt to relate to his or her students.  I see many similarities between the level of authenticity that is appropriate for the classroom and the types of families. Many families operate under each category, and each person has an opinion of how strict parents should be with their children.  I was raised in an authoritative family, and, like the authoritative family's level of strictness, I believe that there is a fine line between too much or too little authenticity in the classroom.  It is important, I believe, to relate to the students without becoming too friendly or concealing too much personal information.  I will strive to stay between those lines when I begin teaching.

Compassion

My second post will focus on compassion and its importance in the classroom.  Compassion is vital for good teachers.  Without compassion, why should one teach?  If a studet comes to his or her teacher for advice, or that student is obviously struggling, would a teacher who lacks compassion care enough to help the student?  What could the teacher possibly accomplish without compassion? The answer is obviously that the teacher cannot teach anyone without compassion (a desire to understand and help improve the conditions of students' lives). Education itself helps to improve the conditions of students' lives, so compassion is necessary for all teachers. Without the desire to help others to improve their lives, one should not even consider teaching.

I have forever in my mind a substitute teacher for my second grade class who completely lacked compassion.  Whether she was truly heartless or simply tired of dealing with students who took advantage of the substitute I will never know, but a situation occured that needed to be handled with compassion, but the teacher chose to ridicule the student in front of the class.  This event has stuck with me through the years and reminds me that compassion is crucial for a successful classroom.  Respect, which I focused on last week, is affected by compassion. It is earned over time, but it can be lost the moment that one shows a lack of compassion. As a teacher, one cannot allow this to happen. A feeling of compassion should motivate all teachers to make their students in to the best people they can be, both in terms of character and success in vocation.

1. Respect

Respect is the perfect disposition to begin the blogs with because it is an absolutely crucial aspect of a healthy learning environment.  The classes in which I felt there was a mutual level of respect between the teacher and the students were my favorite classes and, more importantly, the classes that taught me the most.  

Going to class and feeling that your teacher is truly interested in your input, thoughts, and contributions always has encouraged me to work harder outside of class.  This obviously allowed me to take a great deal more out of the class and increased my interest in that subject.  

For the teacher, it is necessary to have some level of respect from your students in order to succeed, if succeeding for a teacher would mean that your students would learn the material you attempted to teach them.  Students who are going to learn need to pay attention, do their homework, etc.  Respect from his or her students allows a teacher to actually teach his or her students rather than focusing on behavioral problems.

By establishing an atmosphere with mutual respect, both the teacher and the student will have a comfortable working environment in which they can each be successful.  Both will feel that their opinions will be taken seriously and will strive to succeed in the learning process.  Respect can be the difference between a class that is simply "ok" and a class that makes an impact on the lives of the students in it.