I'm now a few weeks into my second semester in the B. Ed. program, and have begun to take a look back to the lessons I learned last semester. It has taken me up until now to feel like I am getting into some semblance of a routine, and to carve out little niches of time where I can think about my role as a teacher and how best to help the students under my care. I do have an excellent reason for the apparent sluggishness, namely one 10-week old, drooly, smiley, bundle of cuteness. Entering parenthood really makes me that much eager to get into teaching as I can directly see, even at such a young age, the effect that interacting with and tending to my little girl has on the way that she reacts to the world around her. She also helps me to see more clearly the inherent value of children and to consider the mix of nature and nurture that will go into how she conducts herself and will affect what kind of life she leads. My wife will go back to work full-time in May, and I have been approved for a one-year leave of absence from the B. Ed. program after the end of this semester in order to look after my daughter before she enters daycare next year. This obviously means it will take longer for me to become a fully-fledged teacher but, in our minds, the benefit of being a stay-at-home parent, at such a formative time of my daughter's life, definitely outweighs the cost.
My key takeaway from last semester, and one that is repeated on a daily basis in class this semester, is that perspective is key. We cannot approach teaching purely from within our own heads; rather, we have to concentrate on what the student will take from the experience. To do this, we must strive to learn as much as we possibly can about our students, their hopes, values, abilities, desires, experience, culture, socioeconomic status, and all other aspects of their lives that may affect their performance in school. This way we can gear learning experiences to them, giving their education relevance, meaning and imbuing them with an interest in their schooling. Finding out about your students can be done through a variety of means, including student introductions, in-class question time and conversations, letters home, chatting to parents in the hallway, and more formal means such as parent-teacher interviews, assemblies, open days and field trips. Once we can gear our teaching to those in our care, everybody wins. The student is excited to come to school, a place where they are understood and their interests and abilities recognized and nurtured, and consequently participates more fully in class, which is a direct reward for the conscientious teacher's hard work.
