Saturday, May 2, 2009

My stregths and weaknesses in teaching

I don't have much experience playing the role of a teacher in the classroom, but being in the classroom over j-term gave me some knowledge about myself. I have a strong ambition to help students which I feel is my biggest strength. Another good quality I wish more of my past teachers and professors had was life experience. As a student I struggle respecting an educator when I have doubts that they haven't encountered problems and made mistakes that I have in their life, and I feel in order for a student to learn they must respect their educator. I think I learn best from educators who have been around the block a time or two and know what its like to be quite imperfect at times because I can relate to them. I have made hundreds of bad decisions and mistakes in my life, which I have grown and learned from, and I feel that in turn makes me more humanistic and relateable to students - something I appreciated in good educators in my past.
Branching off of that, are my weaknesses. I want to be there for the students and want them to know I'm not any more special than they are, but at times I have sensed students would be too comfortable with me which I think can be very problematic because it can lead to students losing respect for me and being a push over.
There is a line between approachable and being too friendly. I want my students to respect me so they can get the best learning experience, and somewhere along the line of being a friendly teacher a student can take advantage of too close of a friendship. So the reality of this blog is that I need to work on being a little more professional in the relationships I will hold with students.

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