Evolving Educators Teaching Teachers for a Better Tomorrow

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[Applause]

when i started my freshman year of

college as a journalism major

i figured that teaching would be kind of

my fallback

i figured well if all else fails i guess

i’ll just be a teacher

like the old adage says those who can’t

do teach

when i switched my major to education

sophomore year i quickly realized that

what i thought was the easy route

took a lot more work than most

anticipate

in a perfect world every classroom would

be exactly like the ones in education

textbooks

but with the ever evolving american

education system

this usually isn’t the case social and

cultural change is what drives change in

classroom culture and climate

and in order to keep up with the times

one of the most important traits for a

new educator to have

is adaptability adaptability quite

simply comes from experience

now when a student doctor starts their

residency

they already have countless hours

of field observation under their belts

they’ve spent time on hospital floors

and in doctor’s offices they’ve done

observations they’ve worked with both

cadavers and live patients alike

sometimes the first classroom experience

that a future educator has

is when they set foot in the classroom

for their first day of student teaching

in the final semesters before they

graduate

now i’d like to argue that teachers are

just as important when it comes to

raising a child

as a doctor in fact teachers are some of

the most important adults in a child’s

life

so why is there such a discrepancy why

do we put more effort into getting

experience for our doctors than our

teachers

first we’ll look at some of the things

that are changing these classrooms in

the first place

that are causing the need for

experienced future educators

one of the biggest and most prevalent is

the evolution of technology

we have seen unprecedented technological

growth in the past 20 years

and while this has provided many

learning opportunities and resources for

teachers to utilize

it doesn’t come without its faults one

of the biggest is now that we are

constantly competing for the attention

of our students

according to university of california

irvine study it takes

23 minutes to regain focus from

receiving a smartphone notification

that’s half an hour where we have to

regain our undivided attention to the

task at hand

it adds up after a while and you begin

to see how precious little

focused learning time we get both in and

out of the classroom

a very harmful effect that technology

has had on our classroom culture

has been cyber bullying the spreading of

hateful words and images across the

internet

now not only affects our older students

but as access to technology improves

now we are seeing young middle schoolers

and sometimes even elementary schoolers

that are the targets of cyber bullying

these hateful words and images often

times lead to hateful acts

on the forefront of many people’s minds

when it comes to what changes classroom

culture and climate

is the prevalence of violence in schools

prior to columbine

mention of violence in american schools

was practically non-existent

now it seems like we can’t go more than

a few weeks without hearing about a

violent act in an american school

when people think of violence in schools

and how it affects classroom culture and

climate

they think of the precautionary measures

metal detectors at school entrances

frosted glass on cafeteria windows so

potential intruders can’t see in

and clear backpacks so teachers can see

what students are bringing into their

classrooms

when i think of violence in schools i

think of a tweet i read once

that said quote american teachers cannot

give their students

tylenol but they’re expected to perform

combat medicine

this was attached to an article about

how

some teachers pre-school year training

now

includes how to staunch the blood flow

from a bullet wound

not only in our schools do we have to

worry about those inflicting violence on

others

at an alarming rate we are worrying

about students who are inflicting harm

upon themselves

from 2000 to 2007 the suicide rate in

those ages 10 to 24

was 6.8 per 100 thousand

as of 2017 that number

was 10.6

that’s a rate that has almost doubled in

less than two decades

and these heavier hitting topics are now

the responsibility of teachers to tackle

as the roles of parents change and

family structures change

now more than ever we have students

sitting in classrooms that are the

product of single-parent homes

that are the product of foster homes

that have working parents who may not

have time to not only help their

children with their homework

but to discuss things like violence

cyber bullying

suicide so it may seem like the odds are

stacked against us

the world of education may seem like an

impossible wall to climb

the key to success here really is

experience

this means getting students in

classrooms doing observations working

with kids one-on-one

working in small groups being a

teacher’s aide all

well before student teaching through

lakeland

i have spent countless hours in a

variety of classrooms

doing observations and i’ve also spent

time in two

separate second grade classrooms and it

has been some of the most helpful

experience in shaping how i’m going to

teach my future students

but there’s another component

this could be working in a before after

school program

being a playground monitor getting

involved with a boys and girls club

a scouting organization a youth group

because

when we look at kids outside of the

classroom we don’t see them

just as students we see them as

kids we get to learn things about them

as people

what their favorite movies and music are

what sports they like to play about

their siblings their family their

history

no longer do we see them as just test

scores on a page we now see them

as individuals and that

is one of the most important things a

teacher can do

is make sure their students see that

they know they’re individuals

i spent four years working at a summer

camp and while i didn’t formally learn a

lick of teaching techniques or human

growth and development

i learned some of the most important

lessons i could ever learn when it comes

to working with kids

five years from now i’m going to be in

my own classroom

and i hope my students know that i trust

them on an individual level

so that they trust me to come to me for

help with homework

if they’re being bullied to prevent

tragedy

and this can start small this could be

as simple

as attending a local school board

meeting suggesting a partnership with a

local university

reaching out to those who are in charge

of youth groups or scouting

organizations and encouraging them

to reach out to local universities

so when you sit back and you think of

the ed majors you see

working in the campus center cutting out

their cute little shapes and thinking

like i used to think

man i really wish

it were that easy because

education goes so much further beyond

the markers the glue

the scissors

one of my favorite sayings of all time

is that teaching is the profession that

creates

all others the teachers of today are

shaping the students of tomorrow

into the next generation of successful

adults

and i hope that with the right

experience

arming teachers with that experience

will be able to help them

with students for generations to come

thank you

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