8/27: Reflections on the First Class

The T/F exercise the first day of class surprised me. The majority of students answered yes to the question “I know how others learn.” I do not understand how students my own age learn, much less the students at the age I aim on teaching. First and foremost, I want to understand how high school students learn so I can help them comprehend subject matter and inspire in them an appetite for knowledge. Continuing with the T/F theme, I found other students’ concerns over in-class behavioral issues and parental discussion problems reassuring. Though I am ignorant of what will be my main challenge as a teacher, the prospect of disciplining high school students worries me. I fear recalcitrant students or those who do not care about their education may be impossible to discipline, especially if my only disciplinary tools are docking grades or discussing problems with the school’s principal. In the same vein, and as others mentioned in class, I want to learn how to deal with obstinate parents. On a more pedagogical level, I wish to learn how to organize a lesson plan and the best methods through which to assess students. Most importantly, I want to learn how to inspire critical thinking in students and inculcate a thirst for knowledge.

My only experience with children thus far has been primarily observational and what hands-on experience I do have has come through athletic instruction. I expect this class to give me at first a rudimentary understanding of learning and teaching processes and then fine-tune my knowledge of teaching. I believe this class will teach me the practical elements of pedagogy, epistemology and discipline of which I was previously unaware. I anticipate this class will provide me the tools to ultimately teach.