While reading through this chapter, I had to take a step back and realize that I needed to think more like a teacher because, as a student, I was able to relate to majority of the reading. I understand how it feels to not be successful in a classroom due to lack of self-confidence and being worried about failure. The big out take for me was what can I do as a teacher to reach students like me and ensure that they are given an equal opportunity in the classroom where they are comfortable with themselves and their abilities. In the text, they speak about the steps that Jennifer Hernandez take to make supportive connections with students. All of the steps are important to connect with students, but some are crucial to their learning. One of the mains steps that stuck out to me the most was "pointing out individual students' strengths". The first thing that that will do in a classroom is build confidence. Once a student's ability is approved of by a teacher, they will be able to model their ability more often in the classroom because they know they do it well. Whereas those who are not confident in themselves seem to hide behind their books.
Another big steps she takes is to share her own struggles with the students when dealing with difficult text. Students do not like to feel alone in their struggles. Once they have a sense that they are not the only ones that are having a hard time with the text, they are more likely to seek assistance. If you share your struggles as a teacher, I believe your students will be more comfortable with the idea of not fully grasping the concept at hand and turn to you for help. All in all, there are many steps you can take to help students who struggle with reading in your classroom, but you must take that first step to reaching the students to see their success.
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Hi Gabby, thank you for your thoughtful response this week! I love the point you made about focusing on students’ strengths. This connects to what we were talking about today in EDMG class about having an asset mindset. If we can see our students as having things they are doing well, rather than things they can’t do then we can help them succeed much farther than if we limit them from the start just by our perceptions of them.
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I also thought it was really hard but crucial to step back and try to approach this chapter like a teacher would because it generally is easy for me to read through things at this point, but for students it may not be easy at all. I loved how you pointed out that we should focus on the students’ strengths and support them rather than tear them down. By supporting them and showing them what they are strong in, they are more likely to be encouraged and strive to do better.
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Hey Gabby! I love that you said you need to think like a teacher more instead of a student because I feel like I have been staying in my student mindset. I want to get better at thinking of myself as a teacher in order to prepare for how to actual create these atmospheres and classrooms that we are discussing. We have to constantly be learning how to be a good teacher in order to be a good teacher. Our learning style now requires us to be think like teachers.
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