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To truly understand my future students, I must be able to earn their respect. After my service learning, I am now more aware of the fact that if respect is not earned between a teacher and his or her students a classroom cannot function smoothly. From the beginning bell to the ending bell, there must be an understanding between those who are there to teach and those who are there to learn. The class must appreciate the fact that everyone who is in the classroom must work together to gain knowledge and further their potential. This is perhaps the most important thing that I learned during my service learning. I realize that if a teacher is unable to earn respect from one or two students, it can trickle down until there is no respect between anyone in the classroom. When a teacher finds himself or herself in a situation where the students show no respect, it is hard to feel that there is any hope for them. However, after spending time at Gila Crossing, I have come to the conclusion that when students are at their worst, it is then when they need his or her teacher to be at his or her best. At no time should a student feel as though their teacher does not care about them or has given up on them. If students feel that the teacher does not think that he or she can succeed, then they in turn will give up on themselves. As a future teacher, it is one of my goals to make my students aware that they can do great things with their futures.
If a teacher gives up on his or her students or the students give up on their teacher, the classroom will lack respect. A lack of respect and compassion in the classroom directly affect the classroom management skills of the teacher. Without respect in the classroom, there is no understanding of discipline. If a teacher spends all of his or her time disciplining, how much time is lost from teaching a lesson? During my time at Gila Crossing, I found myself realizing the lack of time in a school day. I began to see the important role that classroom management plays in a teacher’s career. A teacher must always be aware of the time that is spent on things other than studies. At Gila Crossing, I observed that students spend minimal time on their studies, like most other schools. The fact is that students go to school from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm, approximately six and a half hours. The majority of the time is spent on announcements, breaks, discipline, moving classrooms, and lunch. I was reminded of my past service learning sites, where a majority of the class time was also lost due to those reasons. Because of the short amount of instruction time in a school day, it is crucial that I focus on making the best of the time that I do have. I must make myself aware of planned school events that take time away from my classes and work around them. I feel that if I am able to establish a strong respect with my students, it will be easier to manage the time I have in the class because less time will be spent on disruptions and more time spent on lessons.
When a teacher is able to find a balance between classroom management and respect in his or her classroom, they have the ability to affect different learning styles. My mentor teacher at Gila Crossing discovered that her students learned very well with hands-on experiences. She tries to focus her lessons around that fact. For example, during a math lesson about measuring, the students went outside and measured different parts of the school. My mentor teacher felt that the test grades were higher than normal on that section because they had completed that activity. She informed me that sometimes it was hard because of distractions, but focusing one’s lessons on students’ learning styles is key. I realized that if my students are going to truly learn I must find out how they learn best and focus lessons on those different learning styles. While time might be restrictive in doing that with every lesson, I can try to focus major lessons on different learning styles.
While I gained an understanding of the importance of classroom management, respect, and different learning styles, Gila Crossing educated on much more. I learned that even in the worst of situations, a teacher can never give up on the students. If I do, my students will see this and feel that they are not good enough or incapable of being a good student. I can think back to when I was in school. If the teacher had given up on me when I just could not understand, where would I be today? Personally, I can think of a number of times that a teacher did not give up on me; he or she worked with me until I understood the material. Not only did I gain the knowledge to learn, I also gained a strong belief in myself. It is my duty as a future educator to instill that strong belief with in my students. Along with never giving up on my students, I must never give up on my abilities as a teacher. I have chosen this profession because I want to make a difference. I have also chosen this profession because I know I can educate the future. I must never forget those facts as I endeavor to make a difference in the field of education.
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