Reflections Chapter 2

2.2 - Interviews about achievement

When I conducted my interviews I tried to pick a variety of different people. I interviewed two people who are roughly the same age, but have come from different backgrounds and family situations. My third interview was of someone of an older generation (trying to be nice here) who has lived long enough to see many of the achievements we all hope to have in our lives at one point or another. What I found interesting about all of the interviews was the importance of education. All of my interviewees have had varing amounts of education; two graduated from college and one from high school, but it didn't matter how much or little they had they all found it to be achievements in their lives. They also found long lasting relationships to be high achievements. Two talked of marriage being major accomplishments and all discussed the importance of having friendships from high school.
When it came to the skills they used to accomplish life achievements all agreed that communication has been a useful tool. They also mentioned education as a skill as well as personal skills. Their educational skills and communication have all been useful in their accomplishments of finding jobs that they love and enjoy doing. One talked of using personal skills to overcome her shyness and gaining more confidence which has been extremely helpful since she became a teacher.
What I found most interesting about these interviews was their reactions to the last question. Once again, everyone agreed that they admired people who could maintain long term relationships, whether it was marriage or friendship. One person said they admired people who could support a family and not in just the traditional sense, but people who could support a family mentally, physically and especially emotionally. I whole heartedly agree with this statement. I admire people who see family as much more than just another check on their life-list.
Even though all of these people have come from different backgrounds and families, they all seemed similiar in a way after this interview. No matter where people come from life achievements are all the same when it comes to family, education, and relationships. For the most part, I agreed with everything these people said. They only things I couldn't agree with were things I personally have never experienced.

2.6 - Teaching and Students Socializing Forces

This was the most difficult part of this reflection because not only did I have a hard time figuring out what it was asking me to do, but I also had to figure out a way to explain it to the kid I was interviewing. When it was all said and done I simply asked the kid to tell me about a typical day he has and how his family and school are linked. The kid I was interviewing said that he felt that most of the time he had teachers who cared about him and encouraged him, which I think is pretty lucky because not every kid would have said that. He felt as though he had support both at school and in his home life. We both didn't see how the media played a role in his life other than it perhaps influenced what he read or what a teacher might have on their classroom walls.

2.8 - What a Student Says

I interview a 13 year old boy named Brenden who lives in Eugene, Oregon.
1) Situation that gave you a sense of power: Brended believes that the one place he feels he has power is in sports. He participates in wrestling and feels when he is with people his own age he has more power than when he is surrounded by people who are older and inheritently have more power.

2) Situation that gives you freedom: After school, Brenden is allowed to use the public transportation in Eugene to either go to the library or back to his own house. The freedom in this situation is being viewed as old enough to take care of himself after school. He gets to decide where he goes and has the opportunity to move around.

3) Activities outside of school and in: Brenden loves to read and this is one of his favorite activities, but he also enjoys wrestling, band and playing board games.

4) Where or when do you feel like you have a sense of belonging: When I asked Brenden this question I though because he is a more sensitive boy he would say that he feels a sense of belonging when he is with his family, but of course I was wrong. He feels like he belongs when he is with his friends or with people who have common interests with him.

5) If I were your teacher...Fantastic teacher: Brenden told me that in order to be a fantastic teacher I should teach either history or science, but because I don't, he suggested that I show educational videos in class. He also said it is really important to him that his teachers have a sense of humor. He thinks the best teachers are ones who can joke with their students and who don't take themselves too seriously. This is one thing I really believe to be true. The teachers I enjoyed in middle school and high school were the ones who had a joke or two to start class.

2.9 - Applying what you learned to a classroom

I think the one thing I can do to allow my students to feel they have a little power and freedom in their classroom is to invite them into the decision making process. I had a few teachers who would put a list of books on the board and it would be the classes decision to pick two or three of the books that we would be reading thoughout the year. We got the opportunity to discuss what each book was about and whether or not that sounded like something we would be interested in reading or learning about. To make my classroom more fun I think it is important to, again, let your students have a say in it. I want to have posters on my walls that the students want to see everyday not just me. This could be something as simple as having the students write autobiographies and having a picture of themselves on the wall next to their writing. This is their classroom as much as it is mine and this allows not only me, but all of them to get to know eachother.
I think the hardest part about a classroom is making every student feel like they have a place where they belong. Most of the time they want to be with friends or family, not a classroom. At this time, I don't really know how I would make all of my students feel like they belong. The only thing I can do is make sure that each one of them knows that they are welcome in my classroom and that I want them to be there, even if they don't.