My MEL Experiences

Step 4. Part 2.

Student/Teacher Relationship:

My favorite teacher all throughout my public school days was Ms. St. Louis (now Mrs. Field). She was always willing to stay after school and help out students that needed extra help. She was also a teacher that had many options for one project/assignment. She understood that everyone learns differently and so they are going to explain their knowledge in different ways. She really inspired me to be a teacher and help students learn.

Avoid Rewards:

I had a teacher that used to give out little candies or school supplies (erasers, pencils, etc.) if you did a good job in class or if you participated. I do not see the harm in this kind of reward. It is encouraging students to learn. However, I do see the harm in handing out candy or points to students to reward them for stopping inappropriate behavior. If they are behaving badly the behavior should be dealt with in a productive manner instead of bribery.

Connections:

I was talking to my mother (a sixth grade teacher) about this subject and she told me that she often on Mondays asks students if they want to quickly share what they did that weekend. From their weekends my mother tries to connect the day's lesson to the story. If she cannot she tries to remember small details about a student that she can connect. Connecting the lesson to a student's life is a helpful tool because it allows them to personally connect to the lesson and it will help them remember the information on an exam or project. I think this is a great idea, especially with younger students. I remember my teachers pulling out little details all the time and relating it to class. These details would include: parent's professions, number of siblings, sports played, and pets.

Autonomy:

Letting students decide which way class is going to go is a good idea because it lets the students feel like they are semi in control of what is going on. It also holds the the students accountable for the work or participation that is done after the decision. The teacher can point out the the class made the decision for the certain topic or field trip so they need to stick with it. When my sophomore English class decided to read a certain novel over another and ended up not liking the book, the teacher pointed out that we chose to read it so it was the book that we were going to read. It really made us appreciate our decisions more and work harder.

Helping Students Succeed:

When a student is typically a very good student and is not a problem child in class, and they turn in a horrible assignment, I think it is the teacher's responsibility to find out why that student might have done poorly on the assignment. Maybe they were overly crammed with work that weekend, a family member just passed away, or they just do not understand the material. I remember I had a teacher once that when I had an assignment turned back that received a D+, refused to reteach me the material in a way I might understand it. This pattern continued with myself trying to reteach all the material from class and doing poorly on the assignments. My teacher called a meeting with my parents and claimed that I was not trying in class and was not participating. The problem was that they were moving so fast in class I could not keep up. It is the teacher's responsibility to make sure their students succeed. It is the student's right to learn.