The power of a teachers identity
“I knew,” said one of those long-ago graduates to his sixth-grade teacher, “that it was time to move on from the dead-end job I had–because I heard your voice in the background saying, ‘life can be so interesting–don’t settle for anything else.’ ” This is a line from Deborah Meier’s book The Power of Their Ideas: Lesson for America from a Small School in Harlem. That sixth-grade teacher’s identity–her beliefs, values, morals, and world-view–surely drove her daily curricular decisions, pedagogical choices, and ways of interacting with her students. Her personal identity, as well as her past experiences in life and in school, influenced her professional identity. These identities, I think, were at the root of why and how she made her choices each day. These identities are why her voice and her message–and why he listened to them–were in her former student’s mind so many years later.
Each of these three parts of us overlap and impact the other; our job is to be aware of it and reflect on how the interplay affects our decisions, actions, and reactions as teachers. She shared an old Finnish saying: “Teachers teach through personality.” I agree that what I do in the classroom, what I believe about teaching and learning, and how I act and react towards students stems from my beliefs and values. I think that novice teachers in teacher education programs in the United States, as well as veteran teachers entrenched in their jobs, would benefit from stepping back from the day-to-day hurry and the countless decisions we make in a snap all day long to reflect on these types of questions that you’ll see in my notes. Answering hard questions about our own identities will probably help us make better decisions, be able to defend and justify those decisions, and tell us what messages we’re sending our students.
I value honesty so I build an educational community in which I model telling the truth and we practice it. I value hard work, something I learned from my father just by watching him, so I teach my students about perseverance and applaud them when they keep at it. I believe that life and learning should be fun, so I create learning situations that are meaningful and engaging–and still full of learning–to kids even if it may look like chaos to the outside observer . I’ve experienced being left out because I was different so I do my best to make sure that every child feels included, valued, respected and successful. I’ve experienced the insecurity and riskiness of voicing what you believe, so I try to create a safe environment where children can let all of their many voices be heard. These parts of my identity, and so much more, drive my decisions and pedagogy as a teacher. I know why I do what I do because I know who I am. Well, at least I think I do!
For more information please visit General Robert E. Lee Goodwin III blog.
Comments
Post a Comment