Did being in the school environment or a teacher wound me?
Well let’s see from the question on page xii.
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“The belief that you are not smart, not
competent in learning”. I do feel that every student, no matter what school you
went to, will have these feeling and its just part of being human. We question
why and what we do.
“The belief that your abilities are fixed and
cannot be improved with effort, coaching, intervention, or self-understanding”.
No, I do not feel that my abilities are fixed or can't be improved
upon. I'm learning every minute of the day and my abilities change every week.
Every year there are always exciting things new to discover. It’s even exciting
to find things that, we as human beings, are always adapting to find new ways
that can change within our environment.
The human soul needs this to be able to grow, so that we understand who
we were, are, and where we're going.
“Painful memories of shaming experiences in
school that lives on in you as generalized anxiety and a low appetite for
intellectual risk taking”. I don't like to speak in public because
I was teased for how I spoke. I
couldn't pronounce all the words correctly and it did affect me, but that is
something that I'm trying to overcome. I still speak in public, even though it
makes me nauseous, and I have a hard time doing it. It’s something that I’m striving to overcome everyday.
”A tendency to classify
others, and yourself, into dualistic, reductive categories:
“smart/dumb,’’artistic/not artistic”. Of course, I sometimes classify
myself as non-artistic or not smart enough, I think we all go through this.
“A generalized loss of pleasure in learning. Of course, I find a loss in pleasure when doing artwork. It depends on what's going on my life, and
if the artwork is not going right. I can't think through it or get it
done. We all lose that pleasure of
play that we have in the artwork from time to time.
“And finally, unprocessed
feelings about education and learning that you enact as an adult in your
interactions with your own children or students”. I have a feeling
that we all have memories of teachers that we didn't like. Maybe something happened and we
interacted with them negatively or were scolded in the classroom. Many students carry these memories
throughout their adult lives and retain a bad impression of education into
their adulthood.
“It is the communication and listening skills, more than
anything else, that determine the quality of her recommend habits of mind
(dualistic thinking, labeling, judging, blaming) create communication styles
that lead to separation and dysfunction in our relationships.” Wow, what a powerful statement! Assisted if we don't have
communication with our students how are we supposed to determine if they are succeeding.
If we are succeeding in the creation of a lifelong relationship in their
learning, we have to have communication.
If not, this is where dysfunctional labeling and blaming comes
from. We need to really think
about what we're saying to our students.
On page 124 “Transcending Fear: The Practice of Truthspeaking”. I have been on both sides of this story. Being the teacher and not knowing why your students haven't done their homework or what is behind that reason. It makes you so angry to be a teacher sometimes. I have also been on the student side where you're overwhelmed. You feel like you're sinking. The statement right there really, JUMPED OFF THE PAGE for me. Because, I always feel like I'm below the waterline and can't even grab or hold onto something to save me. You know that place, where you have so much homework and so much going on in your life that you don't see an end to it all. You might feel like you're so behind and try to catch up you feel like you are getting behind. What a powerful message this is for anybody that has been in the same place. We all need to reconnect with what is going on in each other’s lives, before we make judgments. If it’s our students, or if we are the teacher, we need to be able to relate to each other to understand or have empathy. Without all of this how can we become better teachers? I had to share that in that section of the book I was amazing and moving to me.
On page 124 “Transcending Fear: The Practice of Truthspeaking”. I have been on both sides of this story. Being the teacher and not knowing why your students haven't done their homework or what is behind that reason. It makes you so angry to be a teacher sometimes. I have also been on the student side where you're overwhelmed. You feel like you're sinking. The statement right there really, JUMPED OFF THE PAGE for me. Because, I always feel like I'm below the waterline and can't even grab or hold onto something to save me. You know that place, where you have so much homework and so much going on in your life that you don't see an end to it all. You might feel like you're so behind and try to catch up you feel like you are getting behind. What a powerful message this is for anybody that has been in the same place. We all need to reconnect with what is going on in each other’s lives, before we make judgments. If it’s our students, or if we are the teacher, we need to be able to relate to each other to understand or have empathy. Without all of this how can we become better teachers? I had to share that in that section of the book I was amazing and moving to me.
Shirley, isn't it an amazing moment when a single sentence or passage in a book alters the way we perceive and experience things? It seems that this possibility exists in all things when we participate from a disposion that allows growth, change, etc. to occur. All the quotes you selected are clearly powerful for you and important to remember as you enter your own current and future classroom. I love the emphasis on knowing BOTH sides of the fence. Finally, knowing your students and allowing them to know you and develop deeper understandings AND appreciations of one another is so valuable! All important ingredients of a reflective teacher! Now, take a deep breath, come up for air, and enjoy your Spring break!
ReplyDeleteShirley-
ReplyDeleteMy peers and I dealt with so many labels and stereotypes growing up that I can’t even imagine what it is like now for kids. With technology providing a veil for students to hide behind and cyber bullying, many of our students are struggling to find self-confidence. I keep trying to think about ways that I might be able to help students with these issues that they face. Communication about this topic can help to break ground into solving problems. I really liked the project that Livey had us do during the “empathy” presentation in Dr. Unrath’s class. Once I figured out how I could use it with my students, I embraced it even more. So what if we had students think about some of those hurtful labels, or stereotypes that bother them and then led them into a project where they turned these negative “titles” into more positive ones using imagery? What types of meaningful art activities do you think could provide ways for our students to “drop the labels?”