Blog #5: What do you think is the most important role a teacher plays? Why?

The most important role of a teacher I feel is being a positive role model.  You are with your students for 6 hours a day 5 days a week, and for most of the kids in the class that is the most time they have spent with another adult other than their parents or possibly a family member.  The kids look up to you and whether you realize it or not and so I feel that it is important to always keep a positive attitude and do your best so the students see that as a positive thing and want to be positive as well.

In observing in the classroom the teacher always greets each student as the come in to class which sets the tone for the day with the students.  As she has talks to each one there is always one or two students that responds with some kind of negative response or a negative story about something that may have happened to them that morning and she is always good to listen but tries to turn it around into something positive so the student doesn't continue to dwell on the negative.

As I watch these kids the ones that listen to what the teacher says and turns it positive have a better time in class.  They appear to be ready to learn, want to learn and participate in discussions.  Those that don't and dwell on all the negative aren't ready to learn, they don't want to participate and they have negative comments to make during discussions.  I have even seen the teacher pull the student aside and have them go get a drink of water and come back with a more positive attitude.

I think as a teacher it's got to be hard to always appear positive, but it can have such a huge impact on your students and the outlook that they have on life.  You never know how your positive attitude may impact those around you and it creates a better atmosphere in your classroom.

Blog #4: What clerical and preparation responsibilities have you participated in?

I was able to help the teacher get folders ready for each of her students before parent teacher conference.  She has 2 classes and each class is a different color, blue or green, depending on if they are her morning class or her afternoon class.  I made each student a folder with their name on it and put it in the corresponding colored box, alphabetically.  As I made each students folder I assembled a collection of work they had done in class, as homework, their Chinese work, as well as their reading assessment comparing their new scores to their last.  I liked how she had both scores on the paper because I know as a parent I would want to see how they compared and this way the teacher didn't have to have one more binder to look through.

After parent teacher conference she was excited at how it had all worked out because everything she needed was right there and she didn't feel like she was running around her classroom looking for something to give to the parents.  Everything was at her fingertips.  It was all her idea but I was glad I could help her get it ready, because I was doing it for her the first day of parent teacher conference and I don't know if you she would have been ready with every one's stuff.

It made me realize how important it is to be organized and flexible as a teacher.  The first way this teacher tried to be organized for the first parent teacher conferences of the year she didn't like and still felt like she was wasting her and the parents time looking for things in piles of papers.  So she went came up with other ideas after talking to other teachers and doing some research of her own.  You can't get discouraged just keep pushing through and you will find something that will work for you and your teaching style.