Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we celebrate it every year. What did the great doctor really do? Well he was a big advocate during the Civil Rights Movement. As I sat in a couple different lectures and had a discussion with people during one of the sessions, I realized how much it has changed from then until now (how much what he did really influenced). Sitting at a table with a couple friends and professors, we discussed our relationships with African American people as well as got each others opinions on certain topics such as discrimination and what not. For me, living in the Detroit Metro Area was one of the best experiences of my life. Going to school and hanging around people of many different colors allowed me to grow up and really appreciate people. Coming here to Goshen College is the exact same way. Our team had an opportunity to speak up about the national anthem. We had a meeting with our coach to discuss how much it had been part of our high school experiences and how much we would really like to have it played at our games. We had the opportunity go to over to Bill Born's house, have dinner, and discuss this with him as well. He listened and took in everything we were saying. I am very happy for it to be playing next year.
There was a certain way I was planning to recharge my battery, prayer a certain amount of time when I woke up and a certain amount before bed. The goal was 15 minutes and I did not know if I had actually set it too high. Not sure why I thought that at all because I love praying & talking with God. As I began to do this, I felt like 15 minutes was not that much and wanted to use that for more devotional time. As I would read and study, I began to feel better and stronger mentally. Reading in the morning got me ready for the day. The quiet time I got to have with God was so great and will continue to be. Through prayer and meditation, He began to show me what He wants done in my life. He has brought so many special people into my life over these past few months and I believe it is because of prayer. I've always wanted to keep a journal and write things down (verses, quotes, & such) that would be beneficial for me and others later on in life. I cannot express how much it has helped me and how many times I have used it for Him. Keeping this journal going is a goal I have. It's not an everyday thing, but the devotionals and prayer still are. God's opened up the door for a lot of different opportunities and I believe it has a lot to do with faithfulness in prayer. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to "recharge my battery" and I pray that He continues to equip.
Recently a class I was in watched a movie in french called "The Class". It was about a teacher and his class, how he dealt with management, behavior, and all of the things that happened there. He was a very sarcastic teacher and this was one of the reasons his students did not like him that much. There was one point in the video where he said two of the girls were acting like "skanks". When he would be explaining something and one of the students would not understand, another student would make a smart remark about it and degrade the other person. However, the teacher asked that student a follow up question they did not know and this student was quiet for a bit. Many times students want teachers to care about them and ask questions about their lives. These students did not really want the teacher to know that much about them because they felt it there was no need for it in the classroom. This was interesting to me because I enjoy when teachers ask how everything is going. It shows me that they care about me as a person. At my high school, some of the teachers came to sporting events to cheer on their students. This shows the sense of community in the school. Many of my teachers would joke with us when we were in the classroom, so that we would feel more comfortable and want to participate. I did not want to participate as much because there were so many other students smarter than me in classes. However, teachers got me involved and that was greatly appreciated. In my classroom, I hope that my students will want to participate in discussions or lectures that take place. Allowing my classroom to portray community is a goal because it encourages learning through so many different things. Teachers should be people there students look up to. I can only hope to be such a teacher.
There have been a few effective teachers I have seen, that have been quite successful at what they do. One of them is a teacher I observed and taught a bit fore at Concord Junior High. Mrs. K had been there for a while and was pretty established as a successful Physical Education teacher. Walking into her classroom on the first day, the kids tried to get away with little things. Mrs. K had them quiet and ready for the activity they were going to do in record time. It was as if they knew how they were supposed to act, but they were waiting for the teacher to say something before they did. She had a strong teaching voice and this allowed the kids to know she meant business. However, she joked around with them a lot, got to know them, how sports were going or families. The classes I observed went smoothly (good management). Mrs. K had the respect of those around her as well. There were a total of five teachers who taught other parts of Physical Education during this time and they knew that she was in charge. I believe as an effective teacher, you must be able to maintain the rules and such of your classroom, but also be able to have fun and enjoy what you are doing. If you do not enjoy what you are doing, the passion for your content will not show and the students may begin to feel the same way. In another class, we went around the room and mentioned a teacher who had really affected our reasoning for why we wanted to become teachers. It was interesting that out of about 18 students, five of them said the same teacher. In a college classroom, that is pretty substantial. It was how the teacher presented herself and the content which made learning interesting. These students wanted to be able to do the same for the next generation. That is what I hope to do for my students.
Going back to my high school was so weird, but so fun. I went to a basketball game to see how the program was holding up. My high school P.E. teacher was there and so I got a great chance to sit and talk with her about what I was experiencing and also questions that I had about teaching in the high school setting. First, I asked her how bad of a student I was in P.E. She said that I was just a funny kid who loved to play. We did have a lot of fun times in that class. She was surprised when I told her I was going into P.E. Teaching because she knew I was Sports Ministry at my previous school. It's crazy how people can know you for a while or just a little bit and when you tell them something they say, "Oh I can see that." It was nice to know that she had that faith in me. She told me that I had to make sure and put my foot down when it came to kids acting out in class or enforcing rules. I asked her what her favorite thing is about being a P.E. teacher. She said that it was probably wearing sweats everyday. I mean who doesn't love that? My teacher really made Physical Education fun for me and I am truly thankful.
Academic Contacts: Susan LeVasseur Peg Kelly Wayne Priest Rhonda Pew Barb Carbaugh Anna Clark Caryn Huntsman Tom Bergler Steve Wiktrowski Pam Hayes Kris Miller Connie Updike Rhonda Henry Sister Mary Anne Smith Geri Yost Luke Fetters
I got to know a little different perspective that I had not really thought about when it came to teaching in schools. One article I read talked about how schools were looking overseas to hire teachers and that in 2007, 19,000 foreign teachers were in the United States on temporary visas. There are more than three million in America's public schools. In 2005, Baltimore Public Schools hired 108 teachers from the Philippines (10 percent of the teachers). The article took a quote from a report which read “Rather than attending job fairs throughout the Mid-Atlantic, trying to persuade reluctant American teachers to accept positions in troubled inner-city schools, H.R. officials can meet all their hiring needs in one trip." They've done this because of how much success has come from it in the past. Other top states in the U.S. who have a lot of teachers with temporary visas include: Texas, Georgia, New York, & California. Think for a second about just how diverse those states can be. California has Los Angles, Oakland, and many other large cities. The second article I looked at talked about the affects of kids going to innter-city schools. Educational psychologists wanted to know how to educate students better and just how much of their learning was influenced (directly and indirectly) by their surroundings. The community involvement, parental involvement, as well as the teacher involvement are three big things that contribute to a students' life. It talked about how much kids look up to those above them and look for guidance. Also, there was the idea of integrating things that the students enjoy, making it more interesting for them.
Interviewing two students and two teachers, I found certain things that should brought up when it comes to how students learn. First of all, students like when you get to know them. One student I interviewed said she thought that certain teachers in high school did not like her because they never really said anything to her. Some of them were engaging, and she enjoyed their classes for the most part. The other student said that in high school, her teachers were engaging, but most so in certain classes. She said her history and art teachers made learning very fun and interesting. As I asked the teachers what types of learning are in their classrooms, I got smiles from them. They are both second grade teachers and have been at this particular school for a number of years. I've been in a few classrooms these last two years, plus my mother's classroom, but they have taught and influenced so many lives. Being at a Christian school, they said they love who they are working for and being in this environment (even though it does not pay as much). One teacher said that she loves doing the "water books" with her kids and for some of them, it is their favorite activity of the whole year. She loves this age group and it has taken her teaching a few different grades to find which grade she believes she is the best to teach. The second teacher is in another second grade class and talked about a couple kids who had gone to school the previous year in an inner-city school. The parents decided that the extra money was worth having their child at that school. This was an interesting thing I got from talking to her.
