Final Reflection

 Final Reflection

The Heart of a Teacher

"Construct a vision of themselves as educators who weave knowledge of their learners, their content, and themselves to create "meaning-centered education grounded in love of knowledge and humanity" (Imad, 2000). 

    The essay Heart of a Teacher describes just as the title suggests, the heart or the center of teaching. The essay makes you believe that teaching is both indescribably amazing and ridiculously painful. I believe it wholeheartedly. The highest of highs and the lowest of lows, that's what you will get with teaching. The essay prolifically examines teaching, what it means to be a teacher, how it feels to be a teacher, and why we teach in the first place. Two of my favorite paragraphs of the writing are in the beginning. These paragraphs, to me, sum up the highs and lows. 

"I am a teacher at heart, and there are moments in the classroom when I can hardly hold the joy. When my students and I discover uncharted territory to explore, when the pathway out of a thicket opens up before us, when our experience is illumined by the lightning-life of the mind—then teaching is the finest work I know.

But at other moments, the classroom is so lifeless or painful or confused—and I am so powerless to do anything about it that my claim to be a teacher seems a transparent sham. Then the enemy is everywhere: in those students from some alien planet, in that subject I thought I knew, and in the personal pathology that keeps me earning my living this way. What a fool I was to imagine that I had mastered this occult art—harder to divine than tea leaves and impossible for mortals to do even passably well." 

Teaching is not easy. The work behind the scenes is not fun. The fun part is the kids. What makes it worth it? The kids who look up to you for direction, the kids who can feel your love of Physical Education, and fitness, the kids who couldn't put two jumps together in a jump rope unit but suddenly can because of your patients and compassion for them.  That all makes it worth it. My goal from the get-go is to foster relationships with students in such a way that they know I'm someone they can count on. It's vitally important for me to create respect and understanding from day one. Without respect and understanding, they are only in my class because they "have to be". I'm not nieve. I don't think every student I ever have will have a great relationship with me, but I will try. Treating them like "real" humans, having real conversations, asking questions is the way to create relationships and build trust.

  In my very short experience with students, one thing continually holds true- every student wants to be valued. Valued for their work in your class and valued as a person. Admittedly, I'm not the strongest lesson or unit plan writer, I don't love the excess that comes with teaching. I love, love, love making connections with students. I love the way they get excited when they accomplished something they deemed impossible. I love having an effect on them, regardless of how small. I love that elementary student are not afraid of being who they are, whether that's sporting pink hair, or carrying around a stuffed animal because it makes them feel safe. As adults, we lose that. We get bogged down by the day. If we're not careful we lose what makes us, us all together. The commitments of our everyday lives are ultimately not important, it's the connection to others. Kids haven't lost that yet. I love that about them. 

Ultimately my job is to create life-long lovers of physical activity and emotional well-being. I hope I can do so successfully. I hope my own love of physical activity and life-long learning of how to be a better human translates to the kids I teach. 

 I may not always get the nuances of teaching down perfectly but my ability to connect with students, other teachers, and administrators will hopefully make up for my short-comings in a future job.