Educating the whole child entails for educators to maintain positive classroom environments, apply social-emotional learning and implement productive teaching strategies to develop the children’s mental stage. As an educator I feel that the first step in educating the whole child would be to build the relationships that will enable me to reach them in a deeper meaning thus helping them in shaping positive behaviors. By providing a staple environment something that many of my students do not have in their homes is a key factor. My school has provided me with lots of tools over the last couple of years to achieve productive teaching with workshops on restorative practices and socio-emotional strategies. Once the students feel the genuine support from the staff everything falls in place and runs smoothly in helping them. Students always deserve to know that the school is there to listen, take care and love them. The humane approach is the best path in educating and shaping the whole child in order to integrate in the society as a productive stakeholder.
The course was a real refresher for me. I was able to see my teaching practice on a different angle and realized that working in building communities and systems that allow student voice makes my teaching more efficient. In addition to that the course was always a pleasure to attend as I had the opportunity to share and discuss various topics with my classmates who are also on the same path like me. As a teacher I will make sure to put more effort so that I can embed more lifelong skills within my lesson planning and make sure that my students understand the meaning of being a responsible citizen within their communities.
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Digital literacy encompasses 21st -Century skills related to the effective and appropriate use of technology. Our students these days despite the fact that they are very well equipped to deal with technology it is important to teach them the way to learn those technological skills, and on how to be socially responsible to use them. To fully embrace digital literacy students must also learn digital citizenship. Overall digital citizenship is oriented towards online behavior, safety practices and research rules. This element will make technology safer and more helpful to our students. Therefore digital literacy is quite important especially for our students as they prepare for College and a career in our competitive world. The use of technology is required from very young age for our students. From standardized tests, computer-based tests used to measure student progress, to online College applications, financial aid, and online job applications the transition to a new career and College requires the knowledge and good use of technology. Those skills are no longer optional, but they are part of student development and smooth integration in the mainstreams of successful careers and college path. As educators we need to help our students to enhance digital literacy and guide then in being morally responsible on using these skills not only for their benefit but also for the communities that they intend to serve in the future. Embedding technology in our lesson plans and teaching the students on how to implement and efficiently use the knowledge will not only help them succeed in our class but will also help them in their journey to a successful professional and personal life! Even though traditionally the current educational system has put systems in places to support our schools and students in various ways it is also important to realize that those systems do not really have any way in foster-ing family and local community connections. Every community in every city and every state has different needs different demographics and different cultural characteristics. One new thing that I will commit to trying in my classroom will be to promote family engagement and establish the necessary connections that will benefit my students in all levels. I will make the connection by inviting families in order to engage in conversations and learning of each family’s needs and experiences. In addition, recognizing some of the biggest barriers to family engagement will help me to develop more effective strategies to help families feel more connected to and supported by me and the school. In order to succeed in doing so it is important to recognize that this connection will require full effort and quality time in order to ensure that the collaboration will be done in the most efficient manner. Strategies that will ensure this connection could include weekly parent conferences, inviting parents to watch lessons, weekly newsletter and parent gatherings to promote community awareness. Even though all those ideas sound very idealistic at the end of the day we need to understand that we are all one big family! In today’s world we as teachers are responsible to train and teach our students to become lifelong learners in order to succeed and help them join the real world as prepared as possible. However, in order to do so we need to recognize all the barriers and on how to tackle them in order to prepare our students the best possible way. Barriers could be of socioeconomic nature or even cultural which also means that on many occasions those are not possible for us to fix them. Being a teacher in a challenging area and with a majority low-income population it makes me happy to know that my school is putting systems in place to help our students. For example, giving emphasis to after school tutoring, using special techniques for differentiation, and integrate academic language within our curriculum as a non-negotiable are very vital in building student competencies. Having this on mind as a teacher, I like to give emphasis to scaffolding, vocabulary, and creating a culture of accepting that mistakes are part of life. Those are elements that can easily translate into valuable lifelong skills that students can take with them into the real world regardless on which path they wish to take. In conclusion our students are awesome, and they deserve access to the real world with as many tools as possible available to them. This is the best service we can provide to our students and no book or designed curriculum would provide that! As we are looking ahead to the future we need to daily engage students in meaningful ways to build skills and learn content as they think about their future career paths and educational horizons. How our kids are expected to thrive in the future if they don’t possess the competencies required for employment? Our standards and teaching approach need to focus on digital literacy, collaboration, problem solving and decision making. Those skills are key to a successful career in any field students choose to follow. Digital literacy will make it possible for students to use all necessary resources to communicate and create the platforms for various work related projects. As a teacher I believe that I am providing these platforms for my students that enable them on how to use digital literacy in effective ways. Decision making skills is probably the key to success and advancement to any industry. Nowadays decisions on various levels are made in seconds. Therefore, the ability to integrate decision making techniques is even more important today than ever. Collaboration and problem solving I believe that they go together when it comes to future student success. Collaborating and reaching decisions in any level will be always the key for our future community leaders in order to help their economies and societies to flourish. As we are moving to a new order of things it is also important to assimilate and modify our mindset and direct our efforts to more meaningful ways to equip our students for successful careers. Let’s do it!! Despite the widespread agreement from all stakeholders that students need skills like critical thinking, problem solving, collaborative work, and creativity it seems that our system is still struggling to move on to adapt these 21st century skills. As a teacher I find it disappointing not to be able to include some of those skills into the rather structured and irrelevant curriculum. But this is just the pessimistic view that I just mentioned! I strongly believe that if as a teacher work with my students on 21st century skills that I can really control and integrate in my class then this will be a step forward instead! Teaching math is not the easiest task to have these days. Students always question Math relevance to real life. So one thing I could do would be to be more clear with them and adjust some of my daily activities on that aspect. I found that connecting real life examples to the problems always bring engagement and interest to a new level. As a teacher I ought to go out and find ways to make every lesson relevant to my students. By making it relevant this usually activates student creativity which is another skill that is very important especially in this fast pacing society. Relevancy, creativity and collaboration though does not guarantee success for those students. What guarantees them though is the ability to optimize their learning and develop even more life skills such as problem solving, mental strength, and higher level of thinking. As I mentioned above all those skills will not change the educational system over night. However, integrating 21st century skills in my lesson planning together with the outdated curriculum it will be definitely beneficial for my students’ path to success. After all Sky’s The Limit! Are there things that all students need to learn? How does the history of education contribute to the current challenges related to post-secondary success for all students? The history of education in our country has definitely contributed to the development of our society, values, culture, and the expectations that we constantly have for our students. The educational system had to go through economic depressions, wars, segregation and many more obstacles. However, the system always has found its way to bounce back and move on to better days. So how do educators face with the new challenges of adapting their teaching methods to the needs of our times? Are there things that all students need to learn? As an educator I strongly believe that the system needs to minimize the importance of standards and aimless statistical numbers and focus on how to help students improve their critical thinking, problem solving abilities as well as their socioemotional status especially in our fast pacing technological world. Those are very important life skills that the students will bring with them to the real world regardless of whether they go to College or they follow another path to their life. Being able to solve daily life problems and think critically to assess them life could be nicer to them. Over the last two centuries education has become an integral part of our society. Today is more important and accessible than it has ever been. Therefore, our past is our guide on how we go about in teaching our students the necessary skills to become successful members of our society. So to all educators …..this is your call!! Nowadays I strongly believe that there is a misconception about the role that the schools have and why they really exist! As a Math Teacher I realize that the educational system lacks the vision and the pragmatism in approaching and helping the new generation to face the growing life challenges. The educational system and our society tend to give emphasis on standards, fancy lesson plans and College access. However, is this what school is for? On my humble opinion I see school as the platform in which students can learn and practice the necessary life skills that will help them become successful and useful members of our communities. Learning about communication, interacting in collaborative settings, being prompt with deadlines and learning how to solve problems and conflicts will open the doors for them to the real world. The school just creates the opportunity to learn these skills and apply them once students go out to the real world! When I asked my students earlier this year which was their favorite class many of the students replied: ‘Lunch Time’. Even though this sounded like a funny response when I thought about it in a deeper context I realized that this was a genius answer! During lunch students socialize in groups, share stories, talk about love and hate , share their frustration, show their anger and try to figure out life on their own terms. Is it lunch time a better lesson for them than following the standards? Is it life about all those feelings and actions? Food for thought! |
AuthorYiannis Vakis Archives
March 2021
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