Tonight's Poet Corner: Introspection
Yes, I know this is late. I was out bowling and eating bad food with my sister and her new beau. I had a plan going for this introspection, so, yeah, here we go.
Orientation for my teaching credential was this week, over a span of three days. Not only was I basically pushed into getting a Twitter account (seriously, though, it's a good tool for educators), but I also got to see a lot of my former classmates as well as new faces. What's interesting is that, while mostly everyone in the program right now is assigned to a school site, I, being a part-time student, am only taking a couple of classes and won't be sent to a school until the fall of 2015. In retrospect, I'm kind of happy for being able to wait until I observe and student teach because it is such an enormous step forward, and I'd like to tackle things one bit at a time in order to really get through everything. It's nervewracking, but exciting.
The final night of orientation, I was unexpectedly asked to give my two cents regarding why I wanted to teach and my response to a panel of educators who had answered the same question. My answer, always: Students have stories to tell, and rather than dismiss those stories and mold them into the citizens we believe they should be, we as teachers need to give students outlets to tell said stories because they are unique and special and will guide them to becoming the citizens they are meant to be. I truly believe that a difference in background, culture, language, and experiences as a whole will not only shape kids to be better people, but it will also allow them to come up with solutions to problems that others never would have even thought of in a lifetime. We cannot afford to spoonfeed students what we, as flawed people, believe from our established yet limited reality as infallible fact. There have always been challenges to the norm, and our job, as mentors, is to give students the tools to create new concepts and better ideas in order for us to more easily confront some of the greatest problems of our contemporary society.
Earlier tonight, I was reminded of how there is hope with our next generation by a simple reaction of wonder. A little boy, who was walking with some family, noticed that, outside Double Rainbow Café in the town I live in, a rainbow lit up on the sidewalk (which, unbeknownst to him, was caused by the café's neon sign). He proceeded to run to it, loudly shouting, "Wow! A rainbow!" I adored his enthusiasm and his curiosity, especially when he asked, "How did they make it?" The answer, to us, may seem so simple and not very phenomenal at all. However, to this boy, it gave him a great deal to think about. Wonder, in my opinion, is the very first step to attaining knowledge, which can then be used to challenge founded rules and structures in our society. With the right care and love, we can create that chance to wonder and grow in our children.
I am happy that I will obtain my teaching credential in 2016. I am excited for my classes next week, as well as the classes to come, whether or not I take a leave of absence the next semester. So much scares me in this world - the small issues and the big issues, disease and climate change, our quality of life as overconsuming human beings - yet I truly believe that I have the opportunity to help students who can possibly save us from our own foolishly constructed fates. There is hope and we can fix what we've broken. And it starts, in my opinion, in our classrooms.
Have a great night and a great weekend, everyone.
Orientation for my teaching credential was this week, over a span of three days. Not only was I basically pushed into getting a Twitter account (seriously, though, it's a good tool for educators), but I also got to see a lot of my former classmates as well as new faces. What's interesting is that, while mostly everyone in the program right now is assigned to a school site, I, being a part-time student, am only taking a couple of classes and won't be sent to a school until the fall of 2015. In retrospect, I'm kind of happy for being able to wait until I observe and student teach because it is such an enormous step forward, and I'd like to tackle things one bit at a time in order to really get through everything. It's nervewracking, but exciting.
The final night of orientation, I was unexpectedly asked to give my two cents regarding why I wanted to teach and my response to a panel of educators who had answered the same question. My answer, always: Students have stories to tell, and rather than dismiss those stories and mold them into the citizens we believe they should be, we as teachers need to give students outlets to tell said stories because they are unique and special and will guide them to becoming the citizens they are meant to be. I truly believe that a difference in background, culture, language, and experiences as a whole will not only shape kids to be better people, but it will also allow them to come up with solutions to problems that others never would have even thought of in a lifetime. We cannot afford to spoonfeed students what we, as flawed people, believe from our established yet limited reality as infallible fact. There have always been challenges to the norm, and our job, as mentors, is to give students the tools to create new concepts and better ideas in order for us to more easily confront some of the greatest problems of our contemporary society.
Earlier tonight, I was reminded of how there is hope with our next generation by a simple reaction of wonder. A little boy, who was walking with some family, noticed that, outside Double Rainbow Café in the town I live in, a rainbow lit up on the sidewalk (which, unbeknownst to him, was caused by the café's neon sign). He proceeded to run to it, loudly shouting, "Wow! A rainbow!" I adored his enthusiasm and his curiosity, especially when he asked, "How did they make it?" The answer, to us, may seem so simple and not very phenomenal at all. However, to this boy, it gave him a great deal to think about. Wonder, in my opinion, is the very first step to attaining knowledge, which can then be used to challenge founded rules and structures in our society. With the right care and love, we can create that chance to wonder and grow in our children.
I am happy that I will obtain my teaching credential in 2016. I am excited for my classes next week, as well as the classes to come, whether or not I take a leave of absence the next semester. So much scares me in this world - the small issues and the big issues, disease and climate change, our quality of life as overconsuming human beings - yet I truly believe that I have the opportunity to help students who can possibly save us from our own foolishly constructed fates. There is hope and we can fix what we've broken. And it starts, in my opinion, in our classrooms.
Have a great night and a great weekend, everyone.
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