What Makes Great Teaching?

 

    When looking back at your years in elementary, middle, and high school there are many teachers that could come to mind when you think about 'great teaching', common characteristics with those educators are that they took time to produce quality lesson plans in which keep students engaged in the material and creating assignments and activities which allow for student creativity to flourish. These educators also go an extra mile to provide a safe environment in their classrooms which advocate for the acceptance of many identities, often these educators will also provide students with accommodations if needed, for example, setting out enough space so students with wheelchairs can get around the classroom without struggle, allowing items to be at lower locations so these students can also reach them without assistance, etc. Great Teaching leads to many students remembering the impact this instructed had in their academic careers due to the attitude they had towards their job of educating them.

    Even in college there can be wonderful professors who will still allow for a proper environment to flourish within a classroom filled with 200 people, there's no limit to how much effort you're allowed to put into your students and classroom. These educators will always work to help you succeed regardless of any obstacles, there's always a way to get past them and as long as you meet your goal then they have done their job in being a great instructor. 

'How do we Talk about Issues that Matter?'

   

  Some conversation need to be had no matter how uncomfortable it can be at times, in order to improve and fight for equality in systems there have to be continuous conversations about it. However, that doesn't mean these conversations will be easy, with many different perspectives there has to be a sense of respect throughout the conversation and people must be willing to go into these conversations with an open mind.  The exchanging of ideas will not be easy but it's part of being human, we all have different perspectives and opinions and it's only fair that hear them all out as long as no human is being harmed in the process, there are reasons why such conversations can be controversial but by remaining open to opposing sides there may be a way to find a common ground or even change some perspectives.

    When disputes begin it's mainly due to how much about the subject the individuals truly know about it, due to the nature of some topics it's easy to misunderstand what the concept is especially thanks to social media, it's possible for many misunderstanding to stem from online debates especially when accurate information is not given. A lot of heated arguments stem from misunderstanding a person's point of view and since most arguments surrounding civil right, politics, and etc. happen through apps like Twitter or Instagram, it's very easy for the meaning to get lost since the individual is behind a screen so no tone or facial expressions can be easily seen/heard. 

    So, how is possible to talk about such controversial topics if assumptions are being made? There are a few thing individuals should do when partaking in difficult conversations, it's okay to be afraid or uncomfortable during them but it can always be a learning experience and besides you may or may not change your original stance thanks to the new information presented to you. When engaging in these conversations always be ready to listen and allow for the opposing side to finish their statement, be willing to accept any new information that you possibly did not know about and if you end up wondering what such things mean always ask questions, remember as long as there's mutual respect then this debate may be more insightful than just shouting over whose opinion is ultimately correct. Discourse is important, the more we continue to talk about such conversations then the more we are willing to change in order to establish justice for the common good of the country, or even the world as a whole. The more we talk about issues that matter then the less we will repeat the mistakes made in the past. 

How is Teaching Portrayed to the Public?

     As I've taken courses at Texas State in order to become certified to teach, I've realized that my initial idea of teaching was completely different and I had a belief that education wasn't as complicated due to how media and Hollywood like to display educators on the big screen. In most films, there's often no display of how teachers were able to get their underachieving students to become the best and brightest that campus has ever had but obviously due to having a film achieve a happy ending, most films end up creating a "SuperTeacher" type of persona in order to achieve that Hollywood flare many films go for.

    There are many personas that follow educators in films and it's dependent on what time of genre the film is, most family films such as Disney movies, have this sort of "perfect parent-figure" educator that is successful in educating their class by being affectionate or passionate over their students. Most mystery films often have the educator be seen as a suspecting individual who could've been involved in the disappearance of a student, these are some examples as to how educators can be portrayed to the media and often end up creating stigmas that can potentially harm teachers in real life scenarios.

    Often the only individuals who know how difficult teaching can be are teachers themselves, and many parents who have these ideas that educators can just change systems overnight or make a significant impact on their children and their grades are simply misguided due to how media portrays these characters. Not every educator is going to be perfect and learn as quickly as Erin Gruwell from Freedom Writers did, but that doesn't mean that they can't eventually become a great educator and that's what some films lack, the time to show growth. 

How can Schools be more Equitable?

 

There’s always a lot of discussion on how equality is very important to reinforce in our schools but we also need to take into account how reinforcing equity is another step we have to take as educators to help our students succeed. First, let’s talk about how equity and equality are different from each other:

• Equality is the state of being equal in terms of status, rights, and opportunities. 

• Equity is the fairness or justice in terms of how people are treated.

There are multiple ways schools ensure equality but when it comes to equity it seems to be shoved to the side since by giving everyone equal opportunities may seem like enough of an effort for certain individuals, however just because items or opportunities are available to everyone that doesn’t mean there’s the same amount of fairness for everyone. Schools can address this by allowing more aid to those who truly need it so they can also succeed in these equal opportunities. 

Another way schools can become more equitable is by addressing one of the biggest topics surrounding this conversation, funding. By understanding the difference in the funding within the United States and even other countries, the funding in the United States even heavily varies from state to state and it’s even worse as we look into districts and zoning. How are children supposed to have equal opportunities when other schools receive more funding? There has to be more attention drawn into it in order to ensure all students are given what they need in order to succeed along with their more fortunate peers.

How can Educational Philosophies Influence Schooling?

  

  Standardize testing promotes the idea that all children should be tested in the same way over material that was introduced the same way to students in the current school system, however, it leaves out the most important detail in education. All students don't learn the same way. This is where educational philosophies come into play as the give educators freedom to teach how they want as they will know what their students need in order to be successful. These educational philosophies greatly influence schooling due to the many questions educators may consider when developing their own, such as: 

• How do you believe students learn best?
• Do you believe all students can learn?
• What are goals for your students?
• What do teachers owe their students?

    After educators consider similar questions as those stated above, we have to look into these answers and decide which one of them we seem to agree more with and which one(s) we tend to disagree with. These philosophies are Essentialism, Perennialism, Progressivism, Existentialism and Social Reconstructionism. Essentialism tends to follow schools that have students following a pre-determined curriculum that focuses on teaching students to become valuable members in our society, Perennialism has student focusing education on ideas that have lasted a long time, Progressivism focuses on the student rather than the curriculum or the instructor, Existentialism allows for the students to choose and learn what they seem passionate about, and finally Social Reconstructionism focuses on having students be able to identify social injustices by having their curriculum focus on current events.

    These philosophies allow for educators to use a combination of them or to focus on one when it comes to teaching their classroom. In the future, I do think I will end up using a combination of these philosophies instead of focusing on a specific one. I want to create an environment where my main focus is on knowing that all students have different ways of learning and I want to find a way for those who cannot seem to follow along with the others to also find their stride and learn along with the rest of the class, it's my job as an educators to educate and even if it means going out of my way in order to ensure all students understand the curriculum. 

"How Can Instruction be Differentiated for Diverse Learners?"

 

 Standardized schooling has provided many challenges to students who are not able to grasp the same set of knowledge given due to not being able to learn the exact way, when the idea that students can grasp the same set of knowledge and having curriculum revolve around a set amount of lessons to teach per said number of weeks can ultimately lead to ignoring a student's cry for aid in order to learn. The truth is many students learn in many different ways, and we have to set a specific boundary that shows that people do not all learn the same way, at the same pace, or even the same things because of the way others can interpret ideas as they are absorbed. 

The biggest example that comes to mind of standardized schooling is the TEKS and how we as future instructors have to follow this specific guideline when teaching our students, it tells us what students in said grade level are supposed to learn, and what skills they will gain due to TEKS, but it never gives alternatives to teaching said materials. If you have a student who has a hard time speaking English, due to it being their second language, and you go on and don't try to adapt your lesson plan so that child can gain as much knowledge as well then they're going to be left behind and it's not their fault but the system of standardized education for not thinking about those diverse learners. 

Provide lesson plans to revolve around your set of students, have multiple examples based on different ways of learning and not prohibit those who are willing to learn from learning simply because they 'lack' a specific trait the standardized lesson plan asks for. As an educator you have to keep in mind all the possible situations or background these students can come from, some of your students could be learning English as a second language, some could have a hearing disability, others could just not have the funds to create or make a project, etc. There are many ways students learn. 

Educators should be able to take liberty in adapting these lessons in order to benefit all students regardless of how they learn. It's important to have each of our lesson plans revolve around diverse learners and always assume there is going to be one student who is going to need more help understanding a lesson and if we start diversifying lessons to include all children then we will see a boost in scores due to how a lesson plan was modified to help children from all backgrounds learn. Any institutional changes can help students productively learn because of the adaptation of lesson plans due to cultural, linguistic, gender, socioeconomic, etc. ; No student should be left behind in education. 

"How Does Gender Affect The Teaching Profession?"

In present time, it is evident through my school experiences and current college classes that the teaching field is dominated by women. However, this wasn't always the case, teaching only used to be a field men could take on due to the constant enforced idea that women should only be housewives and overseers of the family. This used to be the case with many jobs, men dominated most fields and overtime women began to advocate for their right to get jobs, attend higher education institutions and fight for their rights to do many things that men could freely do. Leading to current time how many fields have a large percent of  women studying in or even working in, making a big emphasis on business related jobs along with science or history centralized majors/job occupations. 

However, the common stereotype in the current teaching field is that only women could only be teachers, at least this is what is heavily implied to children and along with having mostly female teachers throughout elementary/middle/high school this stereotype is only reinforced. However, there is much more to gender according to every individual and by making assumptions about a person due to how they dress could lead to negative interactions. Introducing the concept of gender-diverse children or individuals should be something that becomes normalized since many individuals do not feel comfortable with the gender they are labeled as since birth. 

While I feel comfortable in my gender there are many that do not and it is our job to provide safe spaces to those who need them, everyone is welcomed whether it is in the classroom to learn or even to teach future generations of students. We need to continue advocating for diverse interactions in all classrooms because every one has the right to an education regardless of gender, sex , race and religion.