Monday, October 20, 2008
What to learn from kids
Growing up, I always knew what my teachers thought of me without them saying it. In every class there are kids the teacher clearly likes and those he/she does not. With some of my teachers I was well liked and with others I simply wasn't. I do not think most teachers realize that children know just where they stand. Often, teachers think they hide their feelings. However, when spending everyday with a child it is hard to fake feelings. It is very important to give children credit for their intuition, as it is something that kicks in very young. Most people wear their feelings on their sleeve, whether they think they do or not. Children are smart and they understand and do not second guess feelings. This also holds true in "Walking Trees." It is obvious to the administrators, to Ralph, and to the students which teachers do not enjoy teaching or even children. It is so incredibly obvious in the way they teach their children, judge their students' work, and treat their colleagues. Working as an aide has allowed me to observe many teachers teach. Sadly, more often than not, it has been very obvious who the teacher favors. Overall, most teachers don't hide it as good as they think.
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2 comments:
Yes, kids pick up on everything. In my child development class over the summer we did a presentation on the Social Cognitive Theory, which is based on modeling behaviors. Observation is a key element and kids do that all the time. I know for me it's still the best way to learn a new skill or social ideas. So, as teachers, we have to remember that kids are always watching us so what we do or do not say, they are listening and watching. We are their role models too and that is a hard, but very rewarding job.
I completely agree - children are very bright and do quickly pick up exactly how someone, especially a teacher, feels about them. As adults, we sometimes dismiss how intelligent and alert children are. We think they are not paying attention or they don't understand which they almost always do. I also have had teachers who I knew really cared about me and liked me, and others who were quite mean derogatory. My third grade teacher used to call me "little girl". I was a very shy, quiet child and despite knowing this, this teacher would constantly yell "little girl" do this and "little girl" come here. She was very nasty to me, but to a few others she was very kind and sweet. This instance of bullying has such a profound negative effect on myself and the other students. It showed us that it was OK for this sort of behavior to occur...after all, it was our teacher behaving this way! Like Cheryl said, we must remember to always be a strong positive role model for our students. Even though we might not realize it, our students are constantly watching and modeling their behavior after us. We must always be aware of the influence we have on our students.
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