Hey friends, sorry this is arriving late - I was home for the day yesterday taking care of some stuff and completely blanked on posting until 1am in bed!!
I have some questions and comments that I hope will stimulate discussion.
1. We learned a lot about our classmates and what they've been through with the privilege line exercise last week. I feel a mixed bag of emotions coming out of that. First: school and educational experience is not the same for everyone, and not everyone feels safe or happy at school. Second: I voiced my own personal reaction to the exercise in class - one of guilt. Having reflected on that admission, I'm not entirely sure guilt is the right word. I feel a similar frustration to what I wrote about in my reflection paper. How can I attempt to change the way students experience education without becoming that "white savior teacher?" Leigh mentioned to me that the desire to "save" is a sort of determining factor, and I don't want to save anyone, but I do want to foster an environment where students feel safe. How as we as educators do this in our classrooms? How will our one classroom shape a student's entire education? Can it? How much can we do?
[I know there's a lot going on in that paragraph, but because I wrote the number one, I feel compelled to ask another question.]
2. This set is more personal and reflective:
- What would you consider a success in teaching?
- What is a failure in teaching?
- What is your number one reason for going into education?
- What is your biggest fear going into education?
I passionately want to share my love of literature and education and I hope that at least some of my students will be exposed to a subject they love and want to pursue. I want my students to feel confident in their abilities to be good students, but also good people. I'm terrified that I might be a "bad teacher" and fail to connect with and inspire my students to pursue their passions.
-Maggie
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