The other day, I went into a fellow TA’s classroom as an undercover student. I wore a Razorback (Arkansas mascot) hat. Their perceptions of me were: hunter, fisher, and country music lover. To be honest, that is the farthest from the truth.
It’s funny how we have different perceptions of people, especially our students.
When I first started teaching my class, I didn’t know what to think of them. Were they going to be nice to me? Were they going to be respectful? Were they going to like me? Of course, I had my own assumptions but I always thought optimistically.
From here on out, I perceive that my students will be smart, motivated, hard-working, and engaged. So here’s to throwing away negative perceptions and having the best students that a TA could ever ask for.
Morgan,
ReplyDeleteYour post really spoke to me, especially with where we are at in the semester! I feel that coming into this program, we are given odd pieces of advice. We are told of all the problems that can occur in our classrooms, we are warned about the dreaded month of October, and we are given horror stories of previous students. With all of this advice, although stemming from a means of wanting to prepare new cohorts of all the possibilities, we are left with a bad taste in our mouths about teaching our students.
I enjoyed your post because it challenged these thoughts. If you perceive your students as smart, motivated, hard-working, and engaged, there is a strong likelihood that they will fall into these expectations. In other words, if your students know you believe in them, they'll believe in themselves! Students function similarly to athletes: If the coach sets them up for success and believes in them, the athletes will be sure to follow in this mentality.
#Pedagoalie