Just like how there are different parenting styles, there are different styles of teaching. Teachers can have high demands and high involvement making them authoritative. They can also be authoritarian or permissive. In elementary school a teacher is like another parent. They spend seven hours plus a day with the child. The teacher helps solve problems in the child's life, listen to their needs, and provides for them during that time. This involvement creates experiences that the child's brain needs to properly develop. In high school the teacher becomes more of a role model for the child. Instead of spending all day with the child, the teacher now only has a few hours. In this time the teachers need to show the kids that they care about them, but they also are there also there to provide the students with an education. When I become a secondary education teacher I plan to provide this the same why my french teacher did. Mrs. Hinkle was my french teacher all four years. She was a strict teacher but she gave her students a voice in almost every assignment. For example, in my last year we studied the history of France. We would spend days looking out power points and reading first hand accounts of that person or event. Then on the last day of that study she would come in and give us the options: we could reenact the battle, learn the painter's technique, watch a documentary on that person, or come up with our own project with her approval. She tested us and made sure we knew the information, yet at the same time she gave the students a change to explore their creativity and listen to their concerns. That is the type of teacher I want to become.
CHapter 1Parenting is a critical force in a child's development. It shapes their social, emotional, and cognitive functioning. “When you take the time to actually listen, with humility, to what people have to say, it's amazing what you can learn. Especially if the people who are doing the talking also happen to be children.” -Greg Mortenson |