Monday, December 14, 2009
One Step Towards Respect
Witnessing the progress both Dean and Alex were making started to make me feel as though I was truly doing the right thing. I love coming in and helping them every Tuesday and Friday with their reading and seeing them progress every time I tutor. Watching them both fly through words they struggled with before and understand the concept of sounding out words is a personal feedback which encourages me to teach better every time I come to the Bobby Smith School. I did notice however that Dean seemed to be moving faster through the words then Alex. This to me was ok. Every child has a different speed they need to work at and understanding that is something a lot of teachers need to take into consideration. I remember at my old elementary school I attended, teachers would move on to another subject, even when students were still struggling. I was one of those students who at times fell behind in some of the subjects I was taking, one of these included math. I felt alone like many of the students who had a tough time doing math and a lot of the time, the teacher did not take notice. Taking that extra time to work more with Alex on words he finds difficult probably means a lot to him and his education. This type of method on respecting student's individual speed and skill reminded of Ira Shor's view on empowering education. Shor discussed the importance of bringing a democratic atmosphere to classrooms so that each student is respected individually. When teachers run there class more like a democracy rather than just giving out facts to the students, the students themselves take more from their educational experience. Open discussions allow the students to speak their views and create a sense of connection to the teacher. This way, the teacher understands where each student comes from individually and is able to respect their opinions. Taking some of Shor's views and applying them to my tutoring experience, I feel it is best to respect a student's level of ability and use it to help them succeed when they struggle in certain areas.
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AJ,
ReplyDeleteGreat job tutoring this semester, you clearly did a great job and I'm sure your two students will never forget how much those few hours a week will impact their learning tremendously. That point you made about how many teachers will continue on with lessons, even as some students have not fully grasped the previous concept is sadly very true. I always struggled with math in elementary school, however because the teachers had so many standards and lessons to get through each week, many just continued on anyways. It gets to a point where you just give up because if theres one foundational aspect of the lesson which isn't clear to you, the next ones will be imposible to grasp since they are building upon the last. Every student deffinetly learns at a diffrent speed and its great that you aknowledged that in your response. Teachers might sometimes get frustrated with this because some of their class understands a lesson and the rest of the students are not quite there yet, so its hard to move on but they should keep reviewing untill everyone gets it. One-on-one help with these students must deffinetly help and the individual attention is probably motivational to them aswell.