What do you believe?

I just watched a movie entitled "Believe in your students" from the Luther College Education Psychology website. This video made me think, do teachers believe in their students any longer? Do teachers want their students to achieve? Or are teachers too concerned with legislation like No Child Left Behind which mandates tests and scores? I think that believing and trusting in students has been forgotten. The children in this country are not stupid. In fact I would say most of them are very intelligent. So why are students not achieving in schools?

In response to the question posted on the Ed. Psych blog, I think that some students are not trusted in classrooms today because they act up, or speak out of turn. But isn't that the beauty of life? Not everyone is the same. It is important as teachers to pay attention to each child, and learn about them. This ties in to exactly what chapter 7 in our text discusses.

Chapter 7 describes learning as a relatively permanent influence on behavior. I agree with this, but it is how one learns that is important. At our meeting last night we spoke with Steve Chambliss, a retired teacher, counselor and superintendent. His advice was worth listening to. After some solid teaching it is important to get more education. Also, he suggested to try to push the limits of your comfort zone. This will help to improve your self-efficacy. Prove to yourself you can do something, and you will become a better teacher. As teachers we need to explore different ways of teaching: from operant conditioning to classical conditioning there are many ways to help students, and ourselves, learn. But learning cannot happen without trust. If we can apply ourselves, learn to believe in our students, and push our comfort zones so we can learn and experience more, I believe we have a great chance at becoming great teachers.