Inventiveness

I really enjoyed watching the video clip of Ken Robinson. I really liked his message and the humor he added to it. Something that really stuck out to me was when he said, "Kids will take a chance. . . They're not afraid of being wrong. If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original." He also quoted Picasso by saying, "All children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up." He explained that kids end up being educated out of their creativity.

I believe this is a very important insight to education. As a student, I loved being creative (and still do). I would have much rather wrote a creative paper than a formal essay any day. One of my favorite classes for creative activity were my computer classes. We did lots of creative projects through photoshop, creating website, making medleys, and making movies. I've also always enjoyed trying to write songs. Now I have the chance to take music classes that have helped me understand the structure of music and therefore helped me learn how to better compose something. Some of our big projects are compositions. The best part of these kinds of projects is when you can look at the end result and say, "I did that. I created that." I think that's a feeling that every student should feel in school.

As a teacher, I need to encourage creativity in my classes. I need to encourage my students that it is ok to be wrong when trying something new. I can remind them that famous inventors did not get their inventions right the first time. It took many attempts, but after each attempt they learned something, and when they finally got it right, the results were amazing. I believe creativity is very important in our future. If no one was creative, there would be nothing new, nothing original. The problems that we face today would come no closer to being solved, because there would be no new creative solutions.

Role Playing

I personally enjoyed the role playing activity we engaged in about the No Child Left Behind Act. I think role playing is an excellent way to get students involved. It forces the student to look at all sides of an issue. For example, if students are forced to argue an opinion or stance that they personally don't agree with, it forces them to think differently. It can either open their mind, or it can re-solidify their own viewpoints. If a student gets to argue their personal viewpoint, it forces them to be prepared against all other arguments with a counter-argument.

Although I prefer this type of hands-on activity rather than direct lecture, I do believe I would have benefited from some background information on the No Child Left Behind Act itself. I do not know the logistics of the Act, but I have a better understanding of the controversy created by it. In regards to emotions, I believe emotional engagement is important in learning. I feel if you are personally, emotionally invested in something, it will be more interesting and you will remember it much more.

Passion

I feel passion is one of the most important elements in teaching. No one is going to want to learn what you're teaching if you're not even interested in it. But if you think what you're teaching is the coolest thing since sliced bread, other people will want to know more about it. As a camp counselor this summer, this basic idea was repeated to me many times. As a counselor, our main job was to be excited and to get the campers excited. Of course, we had to make sure they behaved, get them to the right places at the right time, etc. but all of that was made easier when we exuded passion. Even if it was an activity that we personally weren't crazy about, we were still supposed to be enthusiastic about it in order to give the kids a positive attitude about it. If there was a certain game that counselors didn't like and would sit out of, the campers would notice. But if the counselors were involved in the games, the campers got a lot more into the games. This can relate to teaching, for even if a teacher is passionate about their general subject, there will still be some things that they are less enthusiastic about or dislike. If a teacher openly shows that they don't like something, they are giving their students a negative pre-conceived idea of it.

The first teacher that comes to my mind when I think of passion is my high school band director (who I've mentioned before). He was passionate about everything he did. He believed if you're going to do something, you needed to do it 100% or not at all. His passion for music and students has affected the whole school and even the community. I don't have time to explain all the things he has accomplished, but to sum it up he has taken a mediocre band program and turned it into the best thing our school has to offer. As an '09 graduate from my high school said in her commencement speech (in regards to change), "Band has not always been cool." Band is now actually cool at our school and gives the students something to be proud of.

Authenticity

For me, this topic seems a bit harder to write about. It is important to be authentic, or genuine, with your students, but sometimes it is hard to know where to draw the line. One can never show too much respect, but one can share too much about their personal life. I think the most important thing about being authentic is letting your personality show. You can't let the material you are teaching completely cover up your personality. You can use your personality to show the students you genuinely care about what you are teaching. Therefore I feel if you're showing the students the uniqueness about you they will see you as being authentic. Also, I feel if you have a story that relates to the topic at hand it is good to share it with the class, as long as it is appropriate. Obviously, if it deals with some illegal activity or something the students should not be doing themselves, you should not tell it. The stories you tell must set a good example for the students.

Compassion

When I first looked at the topic for the week I immediately thought of Jonah: A Veggietales Movie. For those unfamiliar to it, it is a really cute (in my opinion) animated movie about the Biblical story of Jonah. Towards the end of the movie the characters talk about how God was compassionate towards Jonah by giving him a second chance even though he didn't deserve one. Dictionary.com added to my idea of compassion by saying it is "a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering."

My third grade teacher was far from compassionate. At least, that's the image of her I still carry with me. The incident I remember most vividly from my third grade year was when I broke my arm. During recess I had let someone use my sled and somehow by the time the bell rang to go inside it was still at the bottom of the hill. In a hurry, I decided to run down the icy hill after my sled. Don't ask me why I didn't just slide down on my butt; I guess I wasn't smart enough to realize that would have been much safer. I'm sure you can see what's coming. I slipped and fell, but lucky for me my puny wrist caught my fall. I remember immediately crying and trying to find help. A classmate found an aid who took me to the office to get some ice for it. When I went back to my classroom we were handing out Friday Folder things and I was still in pain. I was still crying a little bit from it, but then my teacher basically told me to shut up and get over it. Fortunately, soothing my bitterness, I came back on Monday with a bright pink cast to rub in her face.

Although a specific time when a teacher showed great compassion doesn't come to mind, I definitely remember my teachers who showed compassion in higher regards than those who I feel did not. This goes to show that a negative experience can stick with one more vividly than perhaps several positive ones. This makes me realize I must be very careful when dealing with kids and always try to show compassion towards them. However, this does not mean that as a teacher one should always feel sorry for kids or let them get away with things, but it does mean as a teacher one should always be willing to listen and take time to form a rational response.

Respect

What comes to mind when I first think of the word respect (besides Arethra Franklin) is "common courtesy." I feel respect is a term for the appropriate way one should treat or act towards others. This involves demonstrating good manners, which unfortunately are really not all that common. According to one of several definitions from Dictionary.com respect means, "esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability."

This definition provides a good outlook of what respect should look like in a classroom. The students should hold their teachers in high esteem and respect their authority, while the teachers should have a sense of all students' worth and potential excellence.

This reflection brings two former teachers to my mind. The first was a history teacher that I feel did not respect his students. I cannot deny he was a very intelligent man and made class interesting. However, I personally did not like him as a teacher because he gave the impression that he got his jollies from making his students feel dumb. History has never been my strong suit, so I myself was a victim of his overdramatic outcries. I remember being very frustrated because of him and also felt sorry for my classmates who got the brunt of the bashing.

The second person that comes to my mind is the kind of teacher I aspire to be. My high school band director found the perfect balance of maintaining a great sense of humor and energy while also maintaining a very respectful environment. People loved him, but everyone also knew he was not one to mess with. This was because he respected the students and held everyone accountable to the same high standards. He did not make exceptions because he knew everyone was filled with potential. His criticisms could probably be seen as blunt, but they were honest and never said with the intention of belittling someone. He was also very encouraging and made one feel proud to be in band.

The most important step in establishing respect in a classroom is to make the expectations clear from the beginning. If a teacher lets the students slack off or be disrespectful on his/her first couple days, the teacher will have a very hard time, if even possible, re-establishing a respectful environment.