Authenticity

Oh the power of authenticity.  A teacher really does needs to have authenticity while teaching their students, but it definitely shouldn't be forced effort on the teacher's part because students are pretty darn good at picking up on teachers who "fake" it. 

Just thinking about the teachers from high school reminds me of the range of teaching styles.  There are two teachers that really stick out.  They are two very different people who had quite the teaching styles, and both happened to be English teachers.  For this story we will call them Teacher A and Teacher B.

So teacher A had a very outgoing personality and was very friendly towards students.  I had always wanted to have her for a teacher because it seemed like her classes were really fun and stress free.  I finally had a class with her in my sophomore year of high school.  She was very personable and was always laughing at one thing or another.  Her classroom was set up very much so to her personality.  There were concert tee-shirts hanging on the wall, an Eiffel tower in the back corner of the room, lots of superman paraphernalia every which way you looked, and lots of pictures of her and her previous students  here and there. But once the class started and was settling into a routine, I noticed that just because she was fun and quirky all the time didn't mean she was necessarily a good teacher.  Often times, she would get sick of what we were suppose to be learning, so on many occasions we ended up watching Ninja Warriors for most of the class periods.  Not to say that I didn't  mind not being productive, but after so much of this nonsense I actually wanted to learn about grammar!  Over time it became obvious to me that Teacher A lacked a lot of self-confidence and tried to make up for that by putting more effort into being liked by the students.   This was very frustrating to me and many other students as well. Yes the class was an easy A, but it was a waste of time that could have been put to better use. Putting on an act is not a good quality in a teacher.  Teachers can have fun and be themselves, but there is a point when it can get in the way of actually teaching the content. 

Now for Teacher B, his main goal was to make sure kids came out of his class with tools needed to succeed not only in higher level high school classes, but college as well.  He had a very outgoing personality as well and quite a crude sense of humor.  While he liked to have fun and joke around, he wasn't afraid to give out bad grades to anyone.  He knew what he wanted his students to learn and he didn't put up with slacking.  Sometimes his sense of humor was not liked by every one, but when he figured out his humor was bothering someone he would apologize and stop.  I think this is something a teacher has to be aware of as well.  They have to know when to stop in certain situations.  Teacher B was always open to questions as well.  He wanted students to ask.  He truly was an authentic teacher without taking it too far. 

Being your own person is definitely something to strive for in the classroom, but one may or may not have to change slightly to benefit all in their classroom.

Compassion

There seems to be a few teachers that just have a gift.  The gift of connecting with their students and being there for their students at any time, a sense of compassion.  So of course, I do have a story to show how the compassion of a former teacher really made an impact on my life.

My first year of college really got off to a rough start.  All senior year in high school and throughout the summer, I had been sooo excited and ready to leave home.  I was ready to experience the independence that comes from being away from your parents.  I was ready to make new friends, get involved in lots of activities, and just get away from the drama-filled high school experience.  I was ready for a fresh start, and I was given the opportunity.  Only one other person from my high school would be at the college and I was an over an hour away from my family.  While I know that really isn't that far, but it was just far enough that if I wanted them to come to  a band concert or just to have lunch, that they would be able to. 

The first thing that made that first year tough was the feeling of being out of my comfort zone.  I have always been shy and reserved when I first meet someone, and I feel that I have missed many friendship opportunities because of this.  So my first big obstacle was becoming more outgoing and willing to try new things.  So I went out of my way to meet some of the girls living on my floor, and made several connections right away.  This was a great feeling since I was literally friendless and that was a new feeling for me. All of my friends back home and been friends since kindergarten, but we all headed to different states for college. 

Once the school year got rolling and classes started, everything became quite overwhelming.  I would have anxiety attacks about going to certain classes because I felt like everyone knew everything already and I had know clue what was even going on.  I felt that in no way had high school prepared me for the challenge of all this material and especially not the workload that was given.    I was also having some trouble with my living situation. Yes this was my first time sharing a room, so that was one adjustment I was really having trouble getting use to.  Another was my roommate.  We were just not meant to live with each other, and so that put more anxiety on me.  Although I didn't really get homesick, apart from just missing my own bed, I had what I like to call "family sick."  I was having a really hard time not seeing my parents and sister for weeks at a time. 

So it came that time for my first violin lesson of the semester.  I was pretty nervous, because my professor was quite intimidating. I didn't know his personality and he was super tall, which I feel to be a bit daunting. Anyways, he welcomes me into his office and asks me how everything was going.  At this point, not  that many people had asked me how I was doing and I just lost it.  I started crying right there in his studio.  I was truly mortified.  But he just sat me down and handed me the box of tissues, all while I was sobbing and apologizing profusely.  That day I didn't really have a lesson.  He just took my lesson time to find out what was going on and making sure that I knew everything would get better with time.  His kindness and caring that day truly made me feel grateful to be going to a school where the faculty truly want to know how their students are doing and taking the time to talk with them.  I had that much more respect for my violin professor after that day.  And sadly, there were a few more times when he just happened to ask me how I was doing and I couldn't hold it in any longer.  There really are no words that can describe how much his compassion meant to me.

Respect

Respect....what a word. It seems we have all been asked at one time or another to define this word.  And yes, I am going to attempt a definition of my own.  Right now.  

Respect is not just one thing, but an accumulation of several things.  To me it is looking up to someone;  valuing how they go about accomplishing their goals in life and the decisions that they make, regardless if you agree with them or not.  It's caring for not only yourself, but everyone and everything around you. While this seems pretty cheesy, there is really no other way to describe respect.  It is kind of hard to put into words, if I may say so.

As a current college sophomore who is in pursuit of a degree in music education, respect is obviously something that I hope to have in my classroom. While respect should be found everywhere, this post is centered around respect found (or maybe not) in a classroom.  There have been many instances throughout my schooling experience that I can recall where I really had respect for a teacher.  One teacher in particular would be my middle school band teacher.  He was an older guy who seemed to have that knack for teaching beginning band students.  He was patient, caring, and had the ability to make sure kids knew that they would succeed if they worked for it.  Everyone loved band with this guy.  How could you not?  To this day I aspire to become a band teacher because of him.  He took the time to make sure that I had the opportunities to be a better player (I play french horn, by the way).  Although I have been in college for a few years now, I made sure to keep in contact with him.  This past summer he even helped me work on my orchestra auditions for college.  Having a teacher that keeps encouraging you is one of the best feelings in the world and my level of respect keeps growing.

That little story is just one way that respect can be seen in a classroom.  A teacher can make class both fun and educational while instilling respect into their students.  On the flip side, when a teacher doesn't respect their students, it is hard for the student to have respect for that said teacher.  Another example from my younger days.  Even now, my face has a tendency to turn a ridiculous shade of red when I embarrassed. Well, in seventh grade I had this obnoxious geography teacher.  He was loud, tried to be funny, and loved to embarrass his students.  I was a personal favorite.  I recall one day very clearly.  I was sitting in class and was called on to answer some sort of question that I probably didn't know the answer to, so I got all flustered and embarrassed.  Well, my teacher took notice of my rather flushed face and went on to  point out to the rest of the class how my face matched my conveniently red notebook. When this obvious fact is pointed out, it just makes my redness worsen.  It was the most embarrassing thing in the world.  Not only just being picked on by my teacher, but being laughed at by the rest of my class.  I know this seems like a very childish thing to remember, but I can't seem to forget it.  I have a hard time respecting teachers who think that trying to be funny and picking on their students will make students like them. I don't want to be just a liked teacher, I want students to be able to respect me as a person.

I wish there was magical way that respect would automatically be a part of classroom, but alas, there's not.  It is something that has to be earned and that takes time, which takes patience.  I think taking the time to get to know your students and respecting them is a good way to start the process.  And all of this is just what I think will work....Obviously I don't have any first-hand experience with this sort of situation, so this is all how I hope to go about this 'respect' stuff when I start teaching. 

Respect....everyone should give it a try.