Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Daily Kos moves in solidarity with the Black community. 2) historical – to properly perform a piece of music, some historical knowledge is important, if for no other reason than to understand it’s context. ( Log Out /  Being the “band geek,” “orch dork,” or choir kid is just another weight to those aforementioned difficulties. bite me, html, What I do when I’m bored because Lee won’t fix my computer so I’m completely useless, Hockey, from the point of view of someone who doesn’t wholly understand it, The History of Football, from the point of view of someone who doesn’t wholly understand it. What does it mean to be a teacher? During the school year I rarely have "down time." A compassionate teacher models that characteristic to the students with her or his actions, and as a result students will be more open to understanding the world around them. That enables me to extend the world of my classroom to a larger world, one that I can bring into the building. Change ). Today my heartfelt thanks go out to the wonderful Miss Carly. Carly writes over at Early Childhood Resources which she started after loving the idea of blogging and knowing that she would be able to keep all her ideas, knowledge and opinions about Early Childhood Education in one place. This content was created by a Daily Kos Community member. It does not matter than an older sibling or a friend has raved about me. For me, what does it mean to be a teacher as a worker of the state or private interest and as a worker whose responsibility is to maintain the status quo of labor and social relations and inequalities?

Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. For example, a teacher with a contagiously positive outlook on life will most likely pass on this infectious disease to his or her students, spreading around the fervent desire to always seek out the best aspects of things and latch on to them rather than to all the negatives, and the children will have good memories associated with music. To add a personal touch, I remember frequenting my middle school band director’s office with questions about everything from working ahead in the methods book to adventures in Europe. Or maybe it is just one student, but s/he is someone who can if personal needs are not addressed totally disrupt the class. What makes a teacher a professional and what constitutes their professionalism in their profession? I always felt like I learned almost as much from them as they did from me. It requires me to approach it from many different ways, to try to find ways in which it will connect with their lives. They are educated specifically in methods of teaching, and they hold a certification. To be a teacher means to be consumed  -- with the care of one's students, with a passion for one's subject, with not wanting to ever miss a chance to make a difference. Building a community is something a great teacher seeks to do in the classroom and extends that to the entire school and its community. ), Ways to get involved in the 2020 Election. With added knowledge on what constitutes professionalism, I agree on the following criteria most discussed in literature (David, 2000) and as expounded by Quong (2016): Individual autonomy is the most crucial — as this is constrained by a centralized curriculum, school mandates, and other means of organizational control over individual teaching practice and pedagogy. I do NOT treat all students exactly the same, because their needs are different. Keeping the student on the right track, and pointing them in directions they may not have known about. it could be that there is something else of importance on the minds of the students, about which they need to talk. No doubt teachers and the teaching profession are deeply embedded in the social, political, and cultural circumstances of the time. ( Log Out /  Being a kind teacher helps students feel welcomed, cared for, and loved. Lack of understanding of the real educational issues can allow ideologues to impose on our schools things that are destructive of real learning, of the excitement with which most students originally enter school.

I consider this fairness, but it is a different kind of behavior than some have come to expect. Each student presents me with a de novo situation. if the horse you are riding is dead, beating it won't make it go any faster. However, there is always a space for contestation and resistance — for teachers can tailor their own teaching and forward their own ideology inside the classroom. A normally solid student suddenly does not come prepared. You can find out more about Carly and her beliefs about and experiences with early education here and here. Through my earphones as I write I listen to Bach's Art of the Fugue, played by a string quartet. What does it mean to be a teacher? The answer is almost always yes. And how can I do this while maintaining some space for myself, my family? What does being a teacher leader mean? You don’t want to be one of those teachers who match the preconceived notions many students bring to school.

Post was not sent - check your email addresses! And it means using whatever gifts I may have on behalf of my students.

I am often asked why i became a teacher, which question is far easier to answer. Perhaps because for me the task of being a teacher is certainly not one of peeling back their scalps and pouring in the knowledge. Being a teacher involves more than simply being able to convey knowledge to students. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It requires me to challenge those who would impose on our schools, teachers, and students requirements that would be counterproductive to the real learning to which all of our students should be entitled. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 9, 2047-2051. Students often see teachers on one side with all the answers and themselves on the other side with all the questions. Quong, T. D. (2016). You are positive: Being a positive person is not an easy task. At which colleges should they look? This provides the prepared teacher with a distinct advantage over their regular grade-level-teaching colleagues (music teachers are lumped in with all the other “specials,” like physical education and art here because all three groups have this perk): the longer they know a student, the greater effect they can have on a student’s attitude and decisions. Blog. Being a positive teacher is even harder when we’re always met with problems with very limited solutions. This week they will encounter aspects of shame  -- My Lai, our hurried departure, the fall of Saigon and the triumph of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Life-long learner. Being a teacher involves more than simply being able to convey knowledge to students. Effective instruction does not simply happen. I cannot really know all 170 students currently in my care. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Nor have I mentioned the biggest current burden, the preparation of my portfolio for NBPTS, due in Ewing NJ by march 31, and i will be pushing the deadline. I must prove to each one that I am worthy of their trust. We recently did a Teacher Blogging Challenge , which amounted to a series of prompts that teachers were encouraged to use daily as writing prompts. A lot of people will not agree with me. Of course credentials, knowledge, critical thinking, and all other faculties of intelligence are important. If there ae 30 students in the room at that moment, the number of interactions going on are in the hundreds. Because I teach high school, I am also involved with writing recommendations (fortunately complete for the current cycle), and helping students explore postgraduate opportunities, which for most but not all will mean college at some level.

She was always happy to talk to me about anything, and I learned things from her I would have never thought to ask of any of my other, regular teachers, which is why I chose to interview her for this assignment. Often it’s just a “hey, check this out” and they do the rest.

Linda Ray is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years reporting experience. Upon initial thought, I defined teacher …

At the elementary level, there is usually one music teacher, and the same students see him or her from the day their parents anxiously ship them off to kindergarten to the day they burst wide the double doors to their supposed freedom and middle school.
Astrid Acielo-Sister.

Sadly, when they step out of the classroom, there are many societal forces at play — and unless their pedagogy translates to good student performance, even the most well-meaning teacher with the students’ interests at heart will bow down to the interests of the school and the state. Effective teachers inspire students to develop their own learning processes. I mean the teachers who had the greatest influence on me — the ones whose names I still remember to this day, even though in some cases it’s been more than … Being a kind teacher helps students feel welcomed, cared for, and loved. It will instead be a personal reflection, drawn from my experience in this time and place, inspired in part by the self-examination I am undergoing as part of preparing to submit my portfolio for certification by the National Board for Professional teaching Standards. This will be a short week, as the students enter Spring break at the close of school Wednesday. It means that one's family will have to accept the limitations  -- in time and money  -- the choice of being a teacher will impose on them. Students do not always have to understand why I do what I do, but if I make some attempt to explain they are for more willing to take steps down a road that might be very unknown to them. However, a great teacher should be much more than credentials, experience, and intelligence. Sometimes it can mean pouring oneself out without being as fortunate as I have often been to get feedback from parents and students that encourages me to go on, even when exhausted, and worrying about my failure in reaching some students.
Some of the skills and traits that are most important to being a teacher are rarely acknowledged formally, but you’ll soon learn their importance on the job. One other wonderful thing about being a music teacher is that we get to interact/teach our students from Posted on 22 May 2017 by J.M. The answer I will assay at this point is mine alone, but one I expect would find strong agreement from many other teachers. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account.

It has at times led to internships and other relationships for some students, and for all it has meant a learning experience beyond what I can personally provide them. Teachers always look to make things better and improve things in and outside of the classroom. My answer is that it may be more important than anything else I do. For Social Issues, where we currently explore the death penalty, this is not hard to do, although there I must find a way to push them beyond their immediate gut reactions, to explore the complexities and subtleties of various positions.