What makes great teaching? - The Series Finale

 

   

What makes great teaching? Throughout this whole course we have learned many different strategies that as future educators will help us teach our students and provide them the skills that they will need to be successful. We have learned how to create a welcoming environment for all students by becoming more self-aware of the changes that our society is going through and learning how to handle them and keeping an open mind. We have learned about different topics including segregation schools, the LGBTQ community within our schools and the different cultural backgrounds that we see in our districts. We have also learned about the different budgets within our school districts and how to help advocate for our students to get more resources. 

The biggest thing that makes great teaching are passionate and kind educators like us. By gaining the knowledge we have been given throughout this course we have allowed ourselves to be more open-minded when it comes to our students. We now know that not all our students will come from the same place or will have the same background. The important thing is to welcome them with open arms and allowed them to view our classroom as a second home for them. Another thing that makes great teaching is listening, we have to make sure our students feel heard and that they know we are here to not only teach them subjects like math, reading, science or social studies but that we are here to teach them life skills. I want to end by saying Thank you to all fellow readers for this journey and I know we will make awesome teachers. Here’s to Us future teachers! 

What is worth learning?

 

What is worth learning? Learning is about gaining skills, independence and knowledge. We as educators have a job and that is to prepare our students for the future. Being able to learn something that will make a deep connection and will be beneficial is more important than learning something that may create tension or that maybe unnecessary. I choose the quote “begin the process of reparations” because I feel that our education systems need revamping in terms of our curriculums. We need to better prepare our teachers to reclaim our schools as a place of learning and help students feel more safe. 

The biggest thing that is worth learning is how to listen to our students and address any issues they may have, and we must also learn how to accept the values and beliefs of others and learn how to teach them without making anyone uncomfortable. A quote I choose for my poem was “school based racial trauma- every level of education has been affected”. I connected with this quote because one of the things I consider important to learn before we can teach is how to show respect and kindness towards one another and create a curriculum in which no one will be negatively impacted. In fact I think the best way as educators to teach our students is to keep an open mind and learn from and about them and to do this we must create a open space for them to share and express themselves. The key here is to not make anyone uncomfortable, on the contrary we want to make sure we educate our students, provide them the skills that will help them and create a curriculum that is worth learning.  

It's 2022, why are schools still segregated?

 

                                                        

     It's 2022, why are schools still segregated? A very compelling question given that segregation was supposed to come to an end with the creation of laws against it put in place almost 70 years ago. Many cities and communities still suffer the effects of segregation, especially when trying to purchase a home. You can have a good credit and still get a higher interest rate simply because of your race. This has not only impacted our neighborhoods but also the way our school system works. Many schools are still segregated to this day, you have schools that are composed mostly of white children and are very privileged when it comes to resources and funding, and these are mostly seen within gated communities in which the white population rules, and then you have schools that are very diverse in race and culture, and are located within neighborhoods that consist of races such as Latinos, African Americans, Asians etc. They however are not as privileged and lack a lot of resources and funding, but why?

    Simple, even though laws against segregation were created the standard had already been set during the time that segregation was enforced. Laws that prohibited races other than the white to purchase a home had huge effect on them even after segregation had ended, they still lacked the funds to purchase a home and even had a difficult time purchasing one because of the rules and interest rates that were set for them, this caused them to remain in the same areas in which they are today, which caused schools to become segregated even without the laws today in 2022. I do have hope that in the future segregation becomes a thing of the past and that our schools become more inclusive in terms of race and I know that we can do it step by step.  

What does money really have to do with it?

 

    What does money really have to do with it? Money has always been an important part of our lives, we have to work for it and we use for almost everything we need. In our school systems money plays a huge role in how students learn. In this profession teachers don’t really get paid much which makes it hard for them to make a living and at the same time provide supplies and resources to their students. Many schools have had the same textbooks and materials because of the lack of money and that makes It hard for the new generation to learn. Money is what builds our schools and provides a safe and clean environment for students. Many schools still lack updating and students are forced to learn in classrooms with hazardous conditions and with supplies that are no longer functional. The lack of funding and resources definitely has an effect on the performance of students within our schools. 

        
        Money has a lot to do with our student’s education, without the funding we wouldn’t have the tools to teach our children. I think the government should provide more funding to our schools especially the low income districts because that is where resources are lacking the most. We tend to forget that education is the fundamental part of our future and disregard it when it comes to budgeting. I as a future educator am making it point to fight for more funding if that does not improve by the time I begin my career as a teacher.