Do
you think that it is the educator’s role to overtly work to make the world a
better place? What are some things that
you could/will try to do as an educator to work toward social
improvement/justice? Be as specific as
possible. (Yes, I know you have a lot to do at the end of the semester, but
I think it’s worth taking a few minutes to think about it!)
I think it is an educator's role to show and relate to students to encourage them to do well and not be afraid of new ideas. It is important for a teacher to build relationships with students and offer them resources and support. I do not look at it as being overly worked but something all educators should have inside of them. I do feel as educators we are not given enough credit on the positive that we do but always looked at for the negative. I strongly agree that programs like teach for America take away our professionalism in the same ways that these year tech schools for nursing are doing to their profession. I will try to attend board meetings and other political events to support my not teaching to the test and having teachable moments, and not allowing cooperate America to take over a profession that does have to know about students needs and feelings. I will research what is going on in the news and make others aware of what is happening to our profession and let my voice be heard and respectfully listen to others opinions.
ReplyDeleteI think as an educator you are challenged in ways to promote a better place for students in the classroom and their world. How educators view their positions as teachers should not be taken lightly. Educators have the power to positively influence youth which are the future of the country and thus the world. I believe by promoting important traits such as responsibility, respectfulness, and being kind everyday that educators can instill these important values in their students thus creating a more positive outlook on their futures and the world as a whole. When I am a teacher I will always make sure to have a morning meeting with my students. We will gather in a circle and give full attention to a student who feels the need to discuss something or tell about an experience that occurred to them. All of the above categories can be addressed in the meeting by being kind to other student's responses and allowing students to speak without interruptions or distractions. By teaching children how to work cooperatively with one another and allowing them to share their feelings I think that I will be promoting social justice in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteI think it is our job, as educators, to help make the world a better place. We need to make our classrooms a positive, respectful, safe environment for the students. I think showing the students respect can help with social improvement and justice. We want our students to feel like they have the opportunity to be successful! They should be reassured that they have great futures ahead regardless of race and gender. We should promote students to find themselves. Educators should not be imposing beliefs and opinions on their students. We should educate children about other races and cultures. We have been taught how to incorporate multicultural lessons, as well as, promoting collaborative group activities. Students should learn to work with other students, which will be important when they get into the real world. I do not think we, as educators, are over worked. It is our job... we are not in this career for the money. We are in it to educate and help children have a successful future!
ReplyDeleteRyan D. - Of course I think it is our role as educators to overtly work to make the world a better place. I have spent most of the semester thinking about my role as an educator and decided for myself that if I did not have the courage to do that and could only teach to the orthodox out of fear, then I would eventually burn out to a crisp. Since finishing the Ayer's text several months ago, I have actually come back to it to reread highlighted sections that I found relevant. One of those sections happens to state that if "I hope to be a good teacher, I must defend my students, especially against myself. I will teach, then, not credulousness but critical awareness, not easy belief but skepticism, not blind faith but curiosity. I want no reverence for what I say; I want no disciples". In order to make the world a better place, then I believe it starts with my disposition which is why I found the quote interesting. I don't believe that the primary purpose of education is to get a job or that it should be reduced to job training. I think the primary purpose of education is to work alongside students to help them find their place in the world and develop a critical citizenry which is vital for a healthy democracy that can work towards social justice.
ReplyDeleteI would first make it clear to my students that I stand for something as an individual and an educator and every text, guest speaker, video, and so forth will stand for something in some way. As an educator I would want to create a psychologically safe space where students are not afraid to take standard and non-standard intellectual risks. So, for example, if I'm teaching a unit about early settlers in Virginia, I might pose a question to the class asking how native peoples might have felt to see their land taken away from them and why the class text skims over that issue. That could lead to a thorough class discussion about the text and how history is written, but in the end, I would not want my students to take my thoughts or the texts as the truth or dismiss either altogether for various reasons. I would encourage them to challenge my academic authority or the authority of the text and do their own research. Hopefully that would lead to them developing a love of intellectual rigor and also becoming a critical consumer of information and authority which is necessary for promoting social justice in a democracy.
I think every teacher feels he/she should think in terms of making the world a better place. It's imperative to include whole world education in your classroom. If you teach like your students are being raised in a bubble and only teach the curriculum and/or local history you're doing a disservice to them. All teachers should allow personal growth and development. All teachers should provide an environment that is safe to give opinions and encourage higher level thinking. As teachers we should not spoon feed information but allow individual viewpoints and experiences to mold our classrooms. We need to teach students that it's OK not to accept things as they are, to question and to promote change. Teachers should provide varying viewpoints and encourage individual inquiry and investigation. If we do not promote self growth, regulation and thinking we should not become teachers. - Rae Clune
ReplyDeleteYes, I do believe it is a teacher's duty to make the world a better place. A teacher should encourage his or her students to speak their mind, help them find their voice in the world. A teacher should give students the opportunity to express their ideas and individual experiences. Let them know it is okay to disagree. But to facilitate this safe classroom environment must be created.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ryan D. that a good teacher should make students aware that everything they see, read and hear has a purpose and certain biases. Students should be encouraged to do a little digging and form their own opinions on various topics. Don't believe everything you hear.
My hope is to instill in my students a love of learning and courage to hold strong to their beliefs but still be open to new ideas.
I dont think it is the role nor the responsibility of the teacher to try to "make the world a better place". I am not even sure what a "better place" means. My views of a "better place" could be different (and they are VERY different from progressive educators) from some other teacher's viewpoints of a "better place". When educators start to teach their students about the viewpoints of the teacher's idea of what a better world looks like, we have done the students a great injustice. We need to teach them the tools of deductive reasoning, logic, leadership and critical thinking. These are the tools that will allow the student to determine how best to make the world a "better place" in their view, not an educator's view.
ReplyDeleteWe are all biased in our ideology and I feel we need to be conscious of our biases and not allow them to leech into our classrooms without appropriate discussion. In regards to social improvement and my role, I will not have a large role in the matter. I will teach my students mathematics and I will teach them the tools of respect, leadership, personal responsibility and accountability and self-sufficiency. I believe once a student has these tools, he/she is better equipped to improve their lives and indirectly improve the social structure of that student.
Ryan Goulet
Educators should not just teach facts for students to learn and then forget after they have taken an exam. The students should find everything that the teacher has taught to be important. What they learn should not be facts, but the ability to question facts. Instead of learning history solely through the eyes of the writers of standard history textbooks, the students should learn history from multiple viewpoints, so they are not stuck with a simple aspect of the world. For example, the study of US presidents should not be solely on what they are best for known for, but on all the important things that they did. For instance, Nixon is most known for Watergate, but his work on improving the economy is never focused on when is most certainly should be. I do not want the students to be limited to what the government says is necessary. They should not just learn what the government deems satisfactory, because that is very limiting for their education and outlook of the world. Allow the students to question historical events, help them study beyond the SOL curriculum, and help them discover themselves in a safe environment. Educators should not teach as a drone of facts, but as a philosopher that helps the students find their own perspective, not that of society or even the educator’s. It is not the responsibility of the educators to ‘make a better world,’ it is their responsibility to help the students find their own world and what they would like to do in it.
ReplyDeleteValerie:
ReplyDeleteI think it is the educator’s role to overtly work to make the world a better place. In a human-services profession, this should be one of our main goals. One thing I can do as a counselor to improve social justice is to bring up the issue with people who may be marginalized. I think spreading the word about social justice, especially to those who are disempowered, can be enormously beneficial. Many people don’t realize they are being oppressed, I think. And if they do know this, they may not know what to do about it. I also think I can advocate for and with people. This means either working to improve their life on my own, or helping them do so for themselves. This could mean addressing racism in school discipline, helping a gay student who is bullied, or encouraging girls to look into STEM fields.
I would say that it may not necessarily be within our set professional responsibilities as an educator to overtly work to make the world a better place. At the moment we are held responsible for our students to learn content and provide an environment that is conducive to that learning. But ethically, I believe it should be a part of our role as educators to make the world a better place. In one way, we are educating the next generation of individuals to interact with the world by equipping them with the proper knowledge and skills through the education we provide. That education does not necessarily equate to equipping students to make the world a better place, but we are at least providing an education with more standards than students received in past decades. What we should do as educators is to challenge students to interact with content in meaningful ways which could include having students invest in projects or topics that require students to stand for a certain position or advocate in regard to a certain perspective. By providing opportunities to our students to take stances for issues, teaching them how to provide well-researched and properly reasoned arguments and using classroom discussion to help students talk about topics with respect and an open-mind, students will then be more likely to use these skills as they interact with others to create a better world.
ReplyDeleteAs far as overtly bettering the world as teachers, I believe there should be a balance as with most things. If we encourage our students to advocate for certain issues, we should practice what we teach. If we want a better educational environment for our students, we should be stand up for those issues, join social justice groups involving education and teach while keeping an ideal educational environment in mind while understand practical needs of our current educational system. It’s up to each individual to decide how far they want to take certain issues, but I would personally prefer to try to not pass a point of doing more harm than good in my actions such as sacrificing a student’s education to prove a minor point.
I think as educators we are going to be faced with a variety of challenges that other professions wouldn’t dream of, that being said I think it is our job to make a change for our students, in their day to day lives. We aren’t going to be able to change the world per say, but I think it is very possible for a teacher to change a child’s world. I think our job as educators is to create a learning environment for all children that is positive and safe for enhancing their learning experience. Being an advocate for all students is another key factor in our role to change the world of a child, because we need to understand that some of the children we will be working with do not have an advocate, and are trying to do everything they can for themselves, but its just not possible sometimes. I think as educators we are the first step in making a change, and creating a platform for social justice, that being said we are the ones coming fresh out of the gates with all of these new innovative strategies and ideas, but sometimes we get wrapped up in the culture of the school, become fearful for our jobs, or what have you and we lose sight of the way we feel right now. It is important that we keep in mind the ideas, concepts, and importance of the information we have learned and the amount of passion we have inside in order to become the first step and create the change that we all would like it see. I think that yes it is easier sometimes to jump on the bandwagon and be done with it, but I think that’s the problem as of yet, no one has started the new bandwagon for people to jump on.
ReplyDeleteI think educators can change the world indirectly. Teachers have the power, if used correctly, to influence students positively which in turn could then go out and make a positive difference in the world. I also think it is important for teachers to also talk to their students about how they can influence and impact the world. I think it is then up to the child for them to use this information to better the world around them. Maybe not necessarily look at it as changing the world, but making a positive impact on the world around them and then hope it spreads.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with Valerie's point that in this type of profession (directly helping and working with others) it is intertwined with our responsibilities. As we said in class, we can't leave our own values or viewpoints out of our teaching. What teachers decide to address and focus on is influenced by what we see as important. "Making the world a better place" is not overtly part of a teacher's job description, but I think it is implied. Helping students learn and grow does change the world, but it is up to the teacher to have a positive or negative impact.
ReplyDeleteAs others have said, it also depends on what the student gets out of the class and how they value or perceive the teacher's message. My hope as a future teacher is to show students choices and issues and help them make an informed decision on how they feel about them.
Teachers should directly address social justice/improvement issues (past and present) and relate them to students' lives and to the curriculum. Teachers are not meant to be passive beings that merely serve to transmit information to students. Educators must make professional decisions about what and how to teach (about social justice and all subjects). Teachers and schools need to be aware of issues that impact their students and how the system itself may be marginalizing. It is critical to be sensitive to the backgrounds, cultures, and values that the community possesses and aim to meet the needs of every student. I think teachers need to show how students can have a voice, help facilitate their democratic expression, and model how to be an active and engaged citizen. This would include things from bringing up current events to talking about voting. Teachers should not impose their own personal viewpoints onto students, but help them become aware of issues and events.
-Caitlin Mewborn
Pre-class discussion-I believe educators should desire to work towards justice, fairness, and to change the world. I do believe it should be a message that is open, and not a message that is motivated by religious or political views. This is where I struggle to like the use of the word overtly in this statement. Ways you can do this as an educator is by investing in the community, modeling good, polite behavior, and positive conflict resolution. Having positive guidelines instead of rules, and incentives instead of consequences is another way to model good citizenship.
ReplyDeletePost class discussion-I would just add that the class as a community, and student centered lessons and class meetings are other great Ideas I heard today that I agree with. Having done an Alfie Kohn project this summer, the idea of the students being part of the structuring of the class as a community appeals to me.
Maria says-
ReplyDeleteAll people should be working to try and make the world a better place, but teachers in particular should have a strong commitment to doing so. Believing that you are going to completely change the world is obviously not a reality- and not that you would want to either since that in itself implies many things. Believing that you can contribute to the betterment of this world IS a fact indeed and from there we can being to open up all sorts of possibilities for betterment as a whole. Doing something as simple as caring for and helping your students is aiding to create a better place because such attitudes, values, and personalities teachers bring with them translate into the classroom. Just being an all around good person can be enough to make an impact in at least one child and they, in turn, will provide this for another person later in life. Being there for them, helping them, and being optimistic about the world around them can create an atmosphere where confidence and well-being abound and those are some of the most powerful qualities one can have to make a big impact in this world.
Life is full of actions, decisions, and interactions and how we chose to go about them does not only affect our lives but the lives of many. Teachers are in a position in which they interact with several students each year on a daily basis. They should be aware of the impact they make and should strive to make sure their interactions are positive and that what they teach and the way they teach it should all be done in a way that will benefit the students. I don’t think this means that they should just teach the required content so that all students can pass the tests and get A’s so that they will have better lives. I think they should teach the material in a way that relates it to the students lives and help them understand the importance of learning the concepts. I think it is also important to help students build valuable life and social skills through building self-knowledge, self-esteem, critical thinking, inquiry, and cooperation skills. These are the things that students will remember once their time in the classroom is over. These are the things that will help the students go out and make the world a better place.
ReplyDeleteTeachers can implicitly make the world a better place through bettering the students in several ways. First they need to recognize that students all have individual needs, strengths, weaknesses and interests so there needs to be accommodations and variability in lessons, activities, and assessments. It is also important to recognize student’s cultural differences. Teachers should allow students to express their voice on current issues and allow them to have choice in their studies as much as possible. Teachers should also foster a sense of agency. Though making the world a better place is not necessarily required of teachers, they are in a position of great power to foster hope, inspiration, and encouragement in students to help them go out and make the world a better place.
Perhaps this is mostly because of my late post, but I really feel that every idea I have on this topic has been expounded in great detail. As teachers, we are in such a unique and special position to inspire and influence the students we teach. How we act in the classroom and how we present ourselves every day certainly makes a huge impression on our students. If we want to make the world a better place, we must actively work toward our goals, aspirations and hopes every day. In this way, our students will see the efforts we put forth not only as their teachers, but fellow human beings, and hopefully they will be inspired to do the same. I feel that this quote from Ghandi really sums it up quite nicely: "Be the change you wish to see in the world". Both teachers and students can live by this.
ReplyDeleteI do think that as an educator it is my job to make the world a better place. I think that most teachers go into this field hoping that they will be able to change the lives of their students for the better and make a profound impact on them. I think that with all the other things in our students lives that are happening everyday, we must always try and make the world seem like a bright and beautiful place for them.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I will try to do in my classroom is to bring in current events that are meaningful and important to the lives of my students and have them research the events. I will strive to have my students make up their own opinions and thoughts and even solutions to the things and problems that are happening. I think it is important to show your students that you have an opinion as well, but not to push that opinion on the class. Teaching the students should not only be about the core subjects that we will be testing them on. It should be about the students being able to explore and find out what they are passionate about and how they feel about the world that we are sending them out in at the end of the day.
Eric:
ReplyDeleteI don’t think it is an educator’s role/responsibility to make the world a better place, but it does come with the territory of being an educator. Making the world a better place is an unmeasurable goal in my opinion. I’m not exactly sure what making the world a better place would look like or consist of. If educator’s teach their students to think for themselves and stand up for what they believe in, I think that would be a step in the right direction to making the world “a better place”.
I do not feel that it is the teacher’s role directly. I feel that the students should be brought up in such a way that they can function in society. However, I think the teacher’s role would be to further those teachings and give the students additional help in the school. But based on the simple fact that each and every person has different beliefs and ideas on what a “good person” is or what a “better place” is, it makes it hard to teach students to be better people to make a better world. Even though thoughts and beliefs may differ, I feel that thinking for yourself, making informed decisions, and keeping an open mind are important things to know regardless and helps students become more well-rounded, another thing school is supposed to offer. As a teacher, treating my students with respect will go a long way in making changes in students’ lives and the society as we know it. Respect is a huge thing because you do not have to like someone to respect them, and I believe that would go a long way in making the world a “better place” regardless of what you believe “better” means.
ReplyDelete-Julie Gottfried
DeleteBrittany Maiden
ReplyDeleteI think it's incredibly important for an educator to not only play a key role in educating his/her students but also trying to better the community around them. For example, having Kurt guide us through how to make changes in the community around us has been eye-opening and certainly allows us to grasp the situations around us and what we can do to positively impact communities. By the end, we were able to work together to discuss the positives and negatives of the projects and the communities we had an effect on. I truly do agree with Eric in that making the world a better place is an unmeasurable goal. But just as Kurt helped us, I would love to be a role model and change the negative conditions around my community with my students when I am a teacher.