As my last post implied, there is much more to middle school than academics. Middle school is the breeding ground to a productive lifestyle. Therefore, people who teach middle school must have special qualities that make them exemplary. Here are a few qualities that I believe are fine qualities of a middle school teacher:
1. Patience in any situation that middle school students will put you through.
2. The willingness to be a counselor when needed, but also knowing when to bring in outside help for the student.
3. Open to talking to students about what is on their mind.
4. Understands what middle school students are going through intellectually, physically, emotionally, socially, etc…
5. Has a strong sense of how they can help middle school students.
6. Knows the fine line between being a “friend” and a teacher mentor.
I feel that overall I posses most of these attributes, including patience, openness, and understanding of what middle school students are going through. This mid-level literacy class has helped me to be more comfortable in these areas. The areas that I am unsure about are a strong sense of how I can help middle school students, and knowing what the line of being a friend and a teacher mentor is in the professional realm. I’m sure that eventually these qualities will come to me, but for right now I know they are what concern me the most about teaching middle school students. I have a tendency to be more of a friend figure because I want to be liked, but with students who are the ages of my sister it becomes a difficult challenge to differentiate the two.
To overcome this obstacle, I can talk with my peers about their experiences. One of the most important things I can do is to get the advice of the teachers I will be working with in the middle school. In my opinion, experience is everything and is the best teacher. I know that I learn best by experience and so my goal is to get as much experience as I can with this age group. I also will try to get the most out of the readings and class discussions in order to help me prepare for teaching middle school.
I also wrote about the struggle between finding the right relationship with students. I think it will be extremely easy for us as young teachers to want the students to like us. I think one of the ways we can separate ourselves from students is what we wear to class. A former teacher told me that she didn't wear one pair of jeans for her first year of teaching because she didn't want to look like the students and so student's wouldn't see her as a friend, but as a professional. I agree with you that experience will definetly help this problem.
ReplyDeleteI was also wondering if somehow you could get your link on Moodle to work. Right now, if you click on it, nothing happens. You have to copy and paste the link onto another web page. That would be awesome if you could change it when you get a chance!
ReplyDeleteKarla,
ReplyDeleteI agree that dressing as a professional will help with the line between being a mentor and a friend. Most of the time I don't think that teachers are allowed to wear jeans anyway, unless it's summer school. I guess it depends on which school you are in and their specific dress codes. I also think that one thing that we can do as teachers is talk to veteran teachers who have been where we are at. I think they can provide us with a lot of wisdom and advice that we can't get anywhere else.
Also, I have fixed the link so that it works by just clicking on it :)
There is much more to middle school than academics. Middle school is the foundation for what high school and further education is built upon. Not saying that if you have a rough start in middle school one can never overcome it, but if good habits and skills are developed at the middle school one can succeed much easier later in life.
ReplyDeleteAddison, thank you for your thoughts and comments! I agree that a rough middle school can be overcome, but if it can be improved, there's nothing wrong with that.
ReplyDeleteOne that you mentioned that I complelety avoided my thought proccess when doing this assignment, is watching the relatinship between being their teacher and being their friend. It can be an extremely fine line that one has to watch and be prepared for. I know for me I want to be their firend as well as their teacher, I want to be that teacher that people feel they can come talk to and be safe, but in doing that, one must watch where the step and be sure to recognize that you still are the teacher, not the friend.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is a fine line, but one way to have this set in stone is to let your students know that you can be there for them, but also they should know that you are a teacher and therefore are a mandated reporter, explaining that there are things that you have to report. I think that can also help them to see the difference between being a teacher and a friend.
ReplyDelete