“Why do you or did you want to become a middle school teacher?
What characteristics do you think a middle school teacher needs to have?

Understanding one’s content is one criterion for successful teaching — but only one. Effective educators at all grade levels possess something more significant than content knowledge: a deeper understanding of their students.”
(You Want To Be A What?, Chapter 1, Brown & Knowles)

This was my favorite text from all the texts we’ve been given the entire semester. I currently work with middle school students and am at a point where things have become very stressful and time consuming. To name a few things that have been keeping me busy; I am completing finals for my 5 graduate classes, inputting grades for parent teacher conferences, lesson planning for both jobs, and attempting to not pass out every chance that I get. It is so easy to forget why I am doing all of these things.

This article reminded me of why it is so important to reflect on the decisions that I have made and will make in the near future. I chose two quotes from the text this week because I couldn’t choose between them. The questions, that I chose from the text, are extremely important for self reflecting and improving our student’s learning. Just taking a moment or two throughout my day or week to think about the students that I am doing this for can completely change my perspective. In the same way, analyzing what characteristics I should be exhibiting to be effective for my students can improve my job performance and the performance of my students in the classroom. It’s amazing to me that so much can be affected by just changing the way we view our situation.
The last quote I chose stood out to me because I have recently been getting nervous when teaching material because I feel as though there is someone out there that can teach this content better than I can. I constantly have been worried about giving incorrect material or wasting my students time by not teaching material effectively. When I read that quote, I realized that I needed to relax and remember that content is only one part of what I do. Someone can teach me how to teach content, but I’m not sure if anyone can teach me how to love and appreciate my students. That love and appreciation I have for my students is a part of me that comes naturally and I should be thankful for that part of me because it is the reason I care about doing my job correctly.
I, honestly, hope that I remember to self-reflect as much as possible while I continue throughout my teaching career. It can be the difference between a positive or negative perspective on teaching, and either choice will impact our students, so it is our job to keep our perspectives in line with the needs of our students.