Authenticity

I think that in teaching it is very difficult to define your limits for expressing authenticity. So many different situations will present themselves and you will have to judge the correct way to handle them and act in them. I think that most people want to be true to who they are and act the same way in all situations. Most people like the person they are and they want to show everyone else who that person is. I think this can be a difficult thing to deal with in teaching. It is hard to show students who you really are without crossing certain boundaries. I think that it is important in teaching to be able to judge what aspects of your life you need to leave out of teaching. For example, in my life my religion and my faith are extremely important to me but I don't think that means that I should go around telling me students what I believe. That is crossing the line and has to do with the whole separation between church and state as well. But also because of my strong faith and my beliefs I will act a certain way in a classroom. I will stress being kind to everyone and being respectful to teachers and peers. I think by being who I am without specifically saying what makes me who I am is okay. It is good to set a positive example for children but you always need to be aware of boundaries. Students can tell if a teacher is not being authentic if the teacher has different requirements for different students or different classes or if the teacher doesn't act the same way in the same situations. This can really hurt the students and their want to learn. If at a teacher is not acting the same way in every situation, the students aren't going to trust him or her and they won't respect that teacher. It is hard for a student to learn if his or her teacher isn't setting the same guidelines all the time and isn't being themself.

Compassion

Throughout my years in school I had many teachers who were compassionate and cared about me as a person. When a teacher made an effort to get to know me it made me feel important in their lives and I respected them so much more. I remember a specific teacher who treated me with compassion and how it made a huge difference in my life. When I was in tenth grade I had an English teacher who made the effort to get to know me personally. She was interested in my academic life as well as my social life. She was helpful in situations when I needed help academically and in situations when I needed advice about something. This teacher slowly became my favorite teacher and I was always excited to learn things from her. It made me realize that teachers can be both a role model and a friend. I respected her for being compassionate to me and it also made me think of her as a friend. To this day we still talk and she was an important figure in my life because of the way she treated me. I think that it is important to practice the right amount of compassion in a classroom because with too little your students won't enjoy you and with too much your students won't respect you.

Respect

Respect is a key element needed in a classroom setting. In order for the classroom to function properly, it is necessary for both the students and the teacher to treat each other with respect. Growing up I had a number of teachers who treated me with respect as well as many teachers who did not treat me with respect. Respect or lack of respect can impact a classroom in many ways. It is important to respect your students because if you don't respect them they will not treat you with respect either. Without any respect in a classroom, not much is learned and it can turn out to be a negative experience for anyone involved.

I remember when I was in sixth grade and I had a family and consumer sciences teacher who didn't respect me at all. I would go to her with questions and she would ignore me or answer me in a way that made it seem like she thought I was stupid. I didn't enjoy the class at all because of how she treated me. I remember one particular situation where she sent home a homework assignment that involved doing laundry and writing about the whole experience. We were to fill out information about how large of a load it was and how we separated the colors. I took this assignment home and with a little guidance from my mother, I preceded to do the assignment and get a parent signature for it. I turned in the assignment and later that week my teacher handed out grade slips and I noticed that I had received a D on this assignment. I stayed after class and asked my teacher about it and she told me I didn't follow the instructions and gave me no further explanation of what I had done wrong. When I told my parents about this they immediately got involved and sent my teacher an email asking her why my grade was so low. She replied telling them the same thing she had told me. Later I asked her to see my assignment and asked her if she would go over it with me so I could see what I had done wrong. She said she would look for the assignment and after a while she told me she couldn't find it. This whole situation confused me and I was hurt by the lack of respect my teacher had treated me with. I didn't get as much out of the class because she didn't respect me so I no longer respected her or wanted to listen to anything she was teaching.

My sophomore year of high school I had an English teacher who I believe treated me with more respect than any other teacher I have had in my life. English wasn't my strongest subject and yet she worked with me whenever I needed help. She was always available after school to help me with papers I was working on or answer any questions I had. She treated me like I was an adult. By treating me like this she impacted my life in a postive way. I felt important and felt like she really was interested in me and my education. This helped me to love my English class and learn a lot from it and from her. When I was a senior in high school she asked me to be her student assisstant and this increased my respect for her. She respected me and treated me like I was mature and therefore I wanted to go to class and wanted to hear what she had to say.

As you can see from my experiences, respect is essential in a classroom. If a teacher does not respect you, you in return will have little to no respect for them. Respecting your students can go a long way and can make them want to go to your class and want to learn what you have to say. In today's world kids often feel like adults don't treat them with respect and feel like they can't speak up for themselves. By respecting your students you can make a positvie impact on their lives and help them to feel important and excited to learn.