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I Wish My Teacher Knew. . . .

 

 

Teachers often forget that students have a life outside of the classroom. Teachers can be quick to deem a student unteachable, impossible, deviant, or troublesome, but those are the ones that never stop to think about students might have going on in their home life. It is so crucial for teachers to have compassion and empathy for their students so they can offer help to a student that needs it, and possibly change their life. Teachers are mandatory reporters, so it is important for us to understand our students and be able to detect any warning signs.

Reading of “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton

Audio: 

In this audio I am reading a short excerpt of “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton. I read this book in my 8th English class and I absolutely loved it! The narrator of this story is a 14 year old greaser named Ponyboy, and is set in small town Oklahoma in the 1960s. I highly recommend reading this book either on your own or with your future students!

Here is the link for the trailer of the 1983 film of “The Outsiders” in case anyone is interested in seeing the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0mBUs9Mcgg

 

 

Creative Writing Assignment

Students can pick any of the following prompts that appeals to them the most. If students think of another creative writing prompt, if ran by me first, they can write about that, as well.

  1. You are an astronaut and you have landed on Jupiter. To your surprise, there is life! Describe what you see.
  2. Jimmy finally found the key to open the door that is constantly locked in his new home. When he turned the lock and opened the mysterious door, to his horror, he saw…..
  3. Write a poem/song about the person that you admire the most
  4. You come home from school one day, and the furniture is completely rearranged, and no one is home? How can you explain this mystery?
  5. You have discovered a time machine. What time period would you go to? Where would you go? Who would you meet?
  6. If you were a superhero, what would your power(s) be? What is your name?  What would you do with those powers?

The purpose of this assignment is to allow students to take a prompt and go anywhere they want with it. There are no guidelines on form or structure, so it really allows students to get creative. Too much time, in my opinion, is spent making students write boring, insignificant and structured papers on topics that they are not interested in. I want to show them that writing can be fun and entertaining.

 

A Message To My Students

I just want to let all of my students know that I encourage them to have a voice and express their ideas freely in my class. I am not there to ridicule or judge you, but simply to guide you to your desired path. I truly want all of my students to succeed, so I don’t want you to feel like you can’t come to me if you are having problems. I encourage my students to strive for success, because they are the future, and I am teaching future leaders, although some of you may not know it or believe that it can happen for you. Hopefully I will be able to ignite a spark in your minds that any student is capable of anything if they put their minds to it.  I am not there to simply teach all of you, but for you to teach me, as well.

It is easy for teachers to get comfortable with doing the same thing over and over again, simply because they are familiar and confident with the content area. While conducting research and writing papers is a  crucial skill for students to have, it also a good idea to let loose a little bit and allow students to be creative, and show them that doing research can actually be fun!

Wax Museum

A Wax Museum is great alternative to a conventional research paper. Not only will students actually enjoy this project, they will most likely retain the information better by doing something that they wouldn’t normally do. Students are still working on their abilities to right a standard paper that is more condensed to put in front of their exhibit. There are also working on their oral skills by talking about themselves as if they were that historical person. Standard research papers are a necessity for students to learn, however, what do they really get out of it? Most students do their best work on projects that they are interested in. This also allows students to be more creative than they could be doing a normal research paper. Teachers often forget that it’s good to change things up a bit. When students get in the habit of doing the same type of activities, they are not getting as much out of it as you might think. Changing it up challenges students, as well as keeping things interesting.

 

My Teaching Style

I strongly believe that high school did not prepare me for college, much less the real world. Technology was never a prominent thing in my classrooms growing up, so I never really knew how to use it. When you live in a world that is becoming for technologically advanced by the minute, this is a significant problem. I only wished I had someone to teach how to implement technology in my everyday life. I feel that teaching students how to properly use technology allows them to keep up with the pace of education.