Week+7

= =  The knowledge that it our expectations play a HUGE role in how our students perform is quite startling. We have so much power as teachers! I thought the quote from Haim Ginott summed it up very well – “… I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous…”.

In all of these lectures, I find that I am linking the issues back with what I am familiar with from my previous work as an OT, so I apologise if I rattle on about it all the time. So here I go again. In my experience, expectation does play a huge role in how someone performs. My work at a special school was a great example of this. It was fascinating to see the differences in performance from year to year as the students changed teachers. In particular, one class that I worked with went from having a teacher that had worked in disability for many years, to an enthusiastic, hard working intelligent new graduate teacher. The gains these students made was astounding. For example, one student started talking in sentences (when previously he had only used a handful of words”, another student began to eat independently, another student had far fewer behaviour outbursts. Whilst some of the changes could be explained due to differences in teaching style/content, I strongly believe that a large part of it was because this new teacher had entirely different expectations from the previous teacher. I knew this because I wrote goals with both of them and set class programs. She had a belief that these students could learn new skills and improve. The previous teacher was fairly certain that the students had reached their potential. It was a really important lesson to me, and part of the reason why I have pursued teaching as a career.

Cat

The concept that we, as teachers, are in a position to essentially "make-or-break" a student is a scary yet exciting one. I was initially a little scared by the thought that if I didn't do something 'right' then a student may not develop as well as they could have, however, I've decided to turn it around in my mind and concentrate on the positives associated with having the 'right' influence. I had always thought that by becoming a teacher I would have the ability to have a large impact on many childrens lives, and it is a little daunting at times, but it is also very exciting! The thought that I might be the teacher who inspires a student on a new path which helps them get through VCE later in life, or to get into a career which they never considered before, is a wonderful one. I think primary teachers are often dismissed as not having very much influence on how a child acts or learns later in their schooling and also in life after school, however, after what we heard in the lecture today it is clear that every step in life has some kind of bearing on the next steps taken. Tanya's example of simply asking a child what they would want as a reward for coming to school was a fantastic one because it really illustrated the impact one tiny event or decision had on that boys whole future!

Laura

 I was thinking the other day about our power as teachers. We literally have the power to glorify or humiliate a child and their achievements. Obviously, I am not planning on being a teacher who humiliates, but no doubt, there have been students who have given away subjects, or school, based on the feedback and treatment from their teachers.

Relating it to my music teaching experience, I remember children who you made me think, ‘this kid’s never going to get it.’ I don’t believe I ever consciously taught with negative expectations, perhaps subconsciously I did… I remember one child in particular, a grade 3 student, who was struggling to grasp any concept of playing the guitar. Yet almost overnight, it clicked. By the end of the year, he was one of the best students and had shown pleasing progress. As a teacher, I think this was one of the best experiences to witness. And for that reason, I don’t think you should ever hold expectations for students, or give up on students, because progress is always possible.

A friend of mine is a high school Accounting teacher. She told me recently, that after taking VCE Accounting last year, one student who had never had much success with their results, came to her at the end of the year and said, “because of you, I now want to be an accountant”. I don’t think there is any greater stamp of approval as a teacher than that.

On a side point, I was also thinking about the importance of getting to know your students. Learning about their home life, their interests, what they do on their weekends. It may me wonder how well you let your students know you. Again, back to music teaching, I would often get asked by the grade 5/6 children questions like, “are you married?”, “do you have a boyfriend”, “how old are you?”, “do you like (as an attraction) any of the teachers?” I told myself that you answer what you deem is appropriate. But in my debate with myself, that’s not very clear. If you are learning about your student’s home life, is it not fair that they learn about your situation?

Emma

Now I know why I like being pro-active and getting in early there are so many interesting points above and I will have to be selective in which I pass my thoughts on........ In agreement with Emma I was asked when teaching sport about having a girlfriend, or what was my favourite subject at school. These questions I simply answered but I was intrigued by their curiousity and following on from what emma said I personally don't think I would answer any questions about fellow teachers etc being attractive because I could imagine that these things would spiral out of control in the school ground. How much might I let them know about me? My interests that they could understand such as surfing, sport, family and friends but only minimally I feel I am there as their teacher not as their big brother or friend, though I don't want to be cold and impersonal, I believe I will find the right balance for myself. I suppose I also don't see myself being or trying to be best friends with them. Yes I want to understand their life outside school to gain an understanding of how best to relate to them but I also don't want Mondays to turn into 'show and tell day' or 'a what do I do about this situtation that happened on the weekend day'.

In response to the lecture and the points made above yes we do have a lot of power (I like influence) over students but your above awarenesses means that I believe we will all use this privilege to ensure that our influence is the most positive it can be. We are privileged to have such a large influence over young people who are not related in some way to us. We should not fear this because we have asked for it and also been chosen we have had to pass through the steps in place to weed out those who society deems to be unworthy of such influence over young people. Think about sportspeople in particular they don't ask to be role models but have it thrust upon them. We in a way have asked to be role models so we have an enormous opportunity to make a difference and shape young people how we believe they should engage with the world. From what I know of each of you I have great faith that you will all take the opportunity and use it to create the best possible journey for yourself and your students.

Some of Tanya's examples were very moving and empowering, I think I am still processing the concept of being a team with the parents of students, if at all possible and communication will be the biggest key to having the parents support. "What is on the walls of the house will tell you a lot about the students", Tanya told us on Monday. Think about your teachers past and present, which style empowers you to do your best? I have had teachers who because of how they treated myself and the group I have wanted to do my worst. Matt 