September 9th Exit Slip

 From today's class my biggest takeaway was Frank McCourt's way of teaching with honesty. I always thought that being a teacher would somewhat entail being a role model for the kids, but I know myself, and I wouldn't call myself an ideal student by any means. So I would have to pretend to be an ideal teacher that sets an example for the kids to be ideal students, but this made me realize that what the students need may not be someone "perfect", but just another human being they can relate to. Someone who makes mistakes and knows what its like to be a teenager. But to what point do we want to relate to our students? Obviously we still need to keep a firm boundary of student and teacher, but at the same time, that boundary might keep some students too far away to reach. Also his approach to understanding students dislikes and rolling with them rather than fighting against it illuminates how a teacher should be flexible and not be too stubborn about one way of teaching, as there are many students with different learning styles. But at what point is rolling with the students too much, if you give an inch won't the students take a mile? I think the biggest point is finding the balance in your teaching like Frank says, its about finding your own voice as you rack up experience. 

Comments

  1. Susan Gerofsky17 September 2026 at 08:56

    Yes, balance is so important in our relationships with learners! We need to show our true, imperfect but also strong and balanced selves, and we need to maintain our professional boundaries. It takes a certain amount of experience and experimentation to find a current balance that works for each of us!

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