“Although we may have to teach on Monday, taking the time to reflect and listen, with humility, can and must be part of our ongoing growth as educators and perhaps as human beings”. (Knoester, 2008, p. 155)
This passage stuck out to me the most because I find reflection is often left out of the day to day practices of teachers. From Powerschool, to grades, to advisory, to curriculum mapping, to PD, teachers have a lot of daily responsibilities. Reflection often gets left in the dust, especially as teachers progress in the field.
This article highlighted the importance of reflection in better understanding students. Kids, just like teachers, have a lot of daily responsibilities. We may forget that our class is not the only one they are taking. We may not know that though Jane participate in our class, in math class, she is silent. Descriptive reviews can help teachers really discover what is going on with a particular student, especially outside the realm of one particular class. Teachers as robots who power off at 3pm and who live in their classrooms is a false idea students often have. Therefore, students as robots doing the motions from one class to the next must be challenged as well. Despite all the many tasks required of teachers on a daily basis, reflection is key to helping us all remember we are humans with feelings and connections. Understanding each other as more than just teacher and student will help develop impactful relationships, that hopefully improve the class and the overall school culture.
I appreciate the way you zoom out and remind us that our students may spend 45-90 minutes with us at a time, but have lots of other daily experiences. The image you reject of students and teachers as robots is a powerful one– especially in this automated, tech-infused era in which we live. Thank you for reminding us to reflect and connect with our feelings and those of our students. The multi-dimensional relationship between teachers and students can certainly exist by default or be consciously nurtured.