Ch. 8-10: Kayla Pohl

Ch. 8-10

“For some students, the greatest gift a teacher can give is permission to explore a topic, time to do it, and an interested ear.” I have been living this quote out so much lately at placement. It seems so often the students are not being listened to, so I have made it a goal of mine to actually listen and care about what the students tell me. If it be the smallest thing, like telling me what they did when they got home from school yesterday or a big issue they may have been holding inside. Whatever it be, it is important for them to know that I give them an “interested ear”. Through giving them this “interested ear” I have found out so many of their interests and seen a different side of the students then if I only looked/listened to them with academic eyes/ears. Since I look and listen to them, I am now gaining more confidence to teach them a unit that involves their interests, yet also teaching them something that they didn’t come right out and say they are interested in learning. I loved the quote, “When a teacher is passionate about a topic and shares the passion with his/ [her] classes, similar interests are likely to emerge in many of the learners as well." Something I have to incorporate in my unit, I have felt for a while that the students would be bored by, I am now gaining a passion for teaching them it. Reading this quote in our chapters gave me the extra boast to turn a topic I thought might be dry to the students into something fun because I will be incorporating things that interests them and also be passionate about it at the same time.