"What Teaching Teaches the Teacher"
Edutopia guest blogger Todd Sentell wrote an interesting entry on October 16th that I could really relate to. His post was titled "What Teaching Teaches the Teacher" and it is a personal account of his experiences as special education teacher. Now I have only been in the role of an educator for less than 2 years, but I have already learned so much more about my profession and my students in this amount of time.
Sentell notes that he has learned that "students that know as much as you do about the subject really keep you sharp." I can relate to this because several of my dental hygiene students have dental assisting or general dental practice experience and prior knowledge about a topic. These students ask very specific questions and make sure I know my stuff. He also notes how important saying "I'm proud of you" is. I am a strong believer in positive reinforcement and acknowledgement of effort. Many of my students are busy adults with a lot of different responsibilities to manage, with school being only one of them. I try to encourage them and tell them when they do something right because I feel it gives them strength to keep going. The last point that Sentell makes also rang true to me. He speaks about reflection on our teaching practices and mentions the benefit of thinking over what you did that day in the classroom and pondering the difficulties as well as the triumphs. I do this everyday and it helps me to plan for the next day, or year, and reminds me why I do the job that I do.
Bottom line, I feel that it is important for teachers to remember that we are learners as well!
References: Sentell, T. (2013, October 16). What Teaching Teaches the Teacher. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/what-teaching-teaches-the-teacher-todd-sentell
I completely agree with you! I also needed the reminder to always be specific with praise and always reflect on our teaching practices. How else are we to grow as educators if we do not reflect upon on lessons, contemplate the good and the bad, and make the necessary changes? I also really like Sentell's 7th point regarding the possibility that your students may not think your lessons are always great...but to not take it personally. I have done this to myself, and wondered what was I doing wrong, but sometimes it just is what it is.
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