evelop a sense of what is right and needed. I not only felt inspired to teach, but I understood the need for good teachers. As both student and novice teacher, I was increasingly drawn to the idea of and need for, being effective at teaching younger children. As a student majoring in education I had the opportunity to observe, more than once, the negative impact that careless or incompetent instructional methods had on students of any age, but especially on children. Children have a natural desire to learn and when faced with incompetent teachers, they tend to blame themselves for the failure to make a meaningful connection with the material taught. In addition to poor instruction, teachers may also make their impatience or frustrations the most important part of the lesson for the day and they may take out these frustrations on the children in their charge, which is an exercise in gross negligence.
As a student, witnessing this teacher-behavior, I felt that there had to be a better way of dealing with children in a classroom than the typical response of complaining that children werenÆt letting the teachers teach. An alternative to complaining about the students, would be for teachers to focus on ways that could enable the children to learn. On the other hand, it is also important for teachers to feel appreciated, trusted, and needed. This kind of support is not always forthcoming in all school cultures.
Teaching and learning are two complementary sides of the same coin. But in my view the proper focus of teaching needs to include multiple instructional techniques and theories, as well as the application of these techniques and theories in a way that fosters learning. It is hard to overestimate the importance of classroom dynamics, which enable students to feel as if the world is more open and available to them. One of the greatest satisfactions I have had from teaching is the evidence that I have functioned as an eff...