Teaching Hope: Rejuvenation

This chapter in teaching hope was one that I really enjoyed reading. The first passage of the chapter was one that stuck with me and I kept reflecting back to the entire time I was reading. I really liked the concept of the boys including Blake, a special needs boy, the play basketball with them. The chapter begins with the teacher coming back to school after missing a day and reading a note from the sub who did not have many nice things to say about the class. Then there was a second note from the special ed. teacher who praised the students for including one of hers in the game outside. When discussed in class, they said that they felt bad for him and wanted to include him in their game. For the teacher, this meant more to her than a note that a substitute left for her. She knew that she had good students, regardless of how they may have acted for the sub.

The second passage I chose, 111, which involved Temika being a troubled student always starting fights and being disciplined at school. After going a long period of time writing in her journal without marking any entries that could be read by the teacher, one finally appeared. Through reading it, she realized that Temika probably has reason for acting the way she does. Though she was a troubled student, and even after marking that entry was such, the teacher vowed to never give up on her as others had done to her in the past. When a student like that is in your classroom, all you can do is model how one should act and find small ways to help them cope with what they're going through until one day hopefully something clicks.

Finally, passage 112 was very intriguing to me. Partly because it was not in a regular ed. classroom, but a psychiatric youth center, and reason being that Chuckles and Max goes crazy the entire time in the background, yet the teacher keeps his cool. He even gets punched in the face by Max, and remains calm. Granted this is an environment where this behavior may be commonplace, however I admire his willingness to not be aggressive in any way. At the end of the passage, where he tells Max that the reason he was still in class was because he did not say anything to those who would prevent him from going, Max understood that the teacher was looking out for him and respected him for that. Little things that help your students go along way. I feel that if they know that you look out for them, they will try harder to be successful.

Teaching Hope: Disillusionment

The passages in Disillusionment were definitely a reality check for me. We all have this perfect picture in our heads of what we want to do with our classrooms, how we want to teach, and maybe even an idea of how we would address discipline problems. What we often forget about is the baggage our students bring to class with them. All of these entries dealt with students lives outside of school and how one's environment has a stronger hold on us than we think. These passages often left the teacher at a loss, for they tried to do what was in their power as a professional to help the student. Most often they failed, however, as the students gave up on themselves. It was a reality check for me as I realize that teaching will not always be a happy gratifying experience. There will always be problem students, or ones whose environment has the ultimate control over them.

In my classroom, I will need to keep in mind that my students have lives outside of my classroom. I need to respect that, and make the environment of my classroom one that students can feel relaxed in. I need to also keep in mind that there needs to be a professional boundary set in place where I am not putting myself in the position of being a friend to my students. In the end, we are all people. We all have issues and everyone deserves someone who can listen to them and offer advice, however simple it may be.

Teaching Hope: Engagement

It was a little easier reading these passages than it was reading any of the ones in the last section of Teaching Hope. However, there were quite a few passages that were sad to read. Many of them dealt with students who faced racial prejudice. Everyone who I read about handled it courageously though. The journal idea that was used many times in this section of the book sounds like something I would like to somehow incorporate into my classroom. It gives students a chance to reflect on things going on in their lives, and gives me the unique opportunity to find out things about my students that I might normally never know. I believe this section of the book is called Engagement because it discussed what teachers have done to get their students engaged and more involved in the classroom. In some of the passages, the teachers have done it on a one on one level, while others addressed issues in a full class discussion. It was interesting to read how different teachers handle a range of issues that are sometimes bound to come up in a classroom of multicultural students.

Teaching Hope: Challenges

As was discussed in class today, this section of the book was for the most part sad. There were so many things that I read that I could not even imagine being issues secondary teachers would have to face. Reading this section really made me aware of the commonality of so many different problems teens carry around with them.

One of the passages that meant a lot to me was 22, the story about Sierra who was the incredibly depressed girl who made multiple attempts to take her own life. I feel the theme of this passage was about how every teacher should try and form a relationship with your students. This teacher wanted to make known to Sierra that she had similar problems with depression, but overcame them and made her life better. Making connections, appropriate connections, is a great thing to make with your students to help encourage and welcome classroom environment.

The next story, number 23 was one of the more depressing ones in the section of the book. it was the story of Kate, a very gifted student who had no success making friends in school and was always being made fun of and ridiculed for her study habits. After years of being alone and solely dedicated her time to school work, life came to a head and she took her life. It was a very sad passage as we commonly think of the troubled children who take their lives. This was a brilliant girl who could have done amazing things in life and the struggles of living in a society where population dominates became too much. Students need to have an outlet, and if you're a teacher that notices something wrong and you can do something to fix it, I believe it is your duty to.

Teaching Hope Reflection

Teaching Hope has been a great read so far. For me, most of the stories are about things that I think will happen to me or I will do once I am a teacher. Three passages stood out to me. Passage number 3 was one of them. Mrs. Lancing is the type of teacher I feel that I will be in the future. She doesn't want to be a strict, no messing around teacher. She wants to connect on a personal level with each of her students and tell them about where she has come from and experiences she has had. That is part of the reason I am anxious to be a teacher myself. I am anxious to engage students in the curriculum, but also to teach them about life and help them with things that come up throughout their lives. Mrs. Lancing had a similar thought that I have had about getting on a personal level with students, and that is where to draw the line. There has to be a line that cannot be crossed. When the teacher gets too relaxed and the teacher/student line is blurred and becomes friend/friend or whatever the term one finds appropriate, the level of learning decreases I feel. Like Mrs. Lancing, I want to have a good relationship with all of my students, I need to keep in mind that it needs to be a professional one as well.

Passage number 6 was another one that I found very interesting. Having to deal with a student who comes from a poor home life is challenging. You don't want to be very strict and keep the child who obviously needs sleep, along with someone who understands him/her, but you don't want to just let the student feel like he/she can just fall asleep in class and not focus on what is being taught. Keeping up to date on popular and current teaching styles that help keep students engaged is something like the teacher in this passage I want to continue to do throughout my career. It does nothing but benefit the student by keeping them engaged, and helps give me more motivation to find new and innovative ways to teach effectively.

Passage 12 was the third passage that I found very intriguing, and hopefully its about a situation I will never be in. Planning curriculum and preparing to teach a class that I would end up not teaching would be very stressful to me and many of teachers. I have also heard the phrase "Don't smile until Christmas". This is something that I don't necessarily believe. A teacher can be strict and firm, but also have a laid back approach and fun teaching style. Students don't only need someone to teach them fundamentals of the subject of the class, they also need someone to help them understand the struggles of life.