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Taryn Warner
C. Wyman
English 111
December 13, 2015

Is Your Teacher Helping Your Education?


School is important, you have to do well in school to get a good job. This is
called a common phrase. Going to school is hard, time consuming, and expensive. As a
student, anything to make the day go by smoothly is greatly appreciated. School is a lot
of pressure. When I was younger the further I progressed in school the more I grew to
dislike it and the less I wanted to attend. When I stopped having a time dedicated for
snacks, and stopped getting credit for crossword puzzles, few things pushed me through
my classes. During those years I was really thankful for my friends, sports and that overly
engaged teacher. An educator should be someone who has a passion for learning,
listening and passing on experience. A student should also be there to learn and engage as
well. Throughout my previous school years, many of my teachers believed in the
statement I am here to teach, and whether you learn is up to you. Many students
believed in the statement You are here to teach me and I am here because I have no
choice. This demonstrates the level of engagement between the student and teacher is
minimal, and this is a problem in education today.
It is important for teachers to engage with their students. To make them aware the
classroom is a safe place. Classrooms are powerful places. They can be dynamic settings
that launch dreams and delight minds, or arid places that diminish hope and drain energy.

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Adena M. Klem and James P Connell wrote an article called Relationships Matter:
Linking Teacher Support to Student Engagement and Achievement and in this article they
stated; Students who perceive teachers as creating a caring, well-structured learning
environment in which expectations are high, clear, and fair are more likely to report
engagement in school. In turn, high levels of engagement are associated with higher
attendance and test scores (p70). When a teacher takes the time to provide interest in
their students, their students will engage more throughout the class. Students often have a
tendency to get easily distracted in the classroom. Students will start talking amongst
themselves, passing notes, taking naps, scrolling through their phone, etc. With the
appropriate structure in the classroom all of this can be avoided.
In I Just Wanna Be Average Mike Rose, states Students will float to the mark
you set. I and the others in the classes were bobbing in pretty shallow water. (p305) As a
student it is their responsibility to pay attention in class and participate, at times
participating is not an option. This is seen in repetition classes, the class where you
already know what the class schedule is without being told. Where every day is the same
thing constantly. Another quote from Mike Rose talks about a teacher who has little to no
experience to the subject he is teaching he states He had little training in English, so his
lesson plan for his day work had us reading the districts required text, Julius Caesar,
aloud for the semester. Wed finish the play way before the twenty weeks was up, so hed
have us switch parts again and again and start again. (p305) This shows the teacher was
not qualified in the area and had no intention in teaching the children any further.

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The majority of our public schools are in low-income communities or rural areas,
which does not mean they deserve any less of an education as any other kid, but it is
more common they will have less of an education compared to any other kid. In an
article How Leadership Influences Student Learning by Kenneth Leithwood, Karen
Seashore Louis, Stephen Anderson and Kyla Wahlstrom who all worked at the Center for
Applied Research and Educational Improvement at the Ontario Institute for Studies in
Education it stated, Youth describe school experiences as irrelevant and lacking
appropriate and meaningful challenges. These patterns are exacerbated dramatically for
youth attending schools in low-income communities, rural communities, large schools,
and for those with histories of poor achievement or problem behavior (p367). If
anything these kids should be given more attention and help. Thats where the No Child
Left Behind Act comes in to place. The government created an act in 1965 that addresses
the federal spending on schools in lower income communities, to give those kids an equal
chance in learning. Like earlier addressed the feeling that school is irrelevant is most seen
in children from rural areas, children who have less of an opportunity who are being
granted with a great one, if the right person comes along. Within the No Child Left
Behind Act it is a law that students have to make yearly progress, progress from students
means progress from teachers. But that is not always the case, good grades look like
progress, but good grades do not always mean a student is learning or a teacher is
teaching.
A teacher's job can have the potential to be more important than a parent's job.
Being a parent is one of the biggest and most important jobs in the world. But not all kids

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have parents or their parent(s) may not be responsible. The Governments federal
spending should be able to provide our schools with caring and responsible teachers and
faculty members. It is amazing how big of an impact teachers can make on someone, they
have the opportunity to meet hundreds of children throughout years, children who are
kind and intelligent and children who struggle physically, and mentally. It takes a strong
person to give so many different kids with different qualities the right attention they need.
Maya Angelou once explains,
This is the value of the teacher, who looks at a face and says there's something behind
that and I want to reach that person, I want to influence that person, I want to encourage
that person, I want to enrich, I want to call out that person who is behind that face, behind
that color, behind that language, behind that tradition, behind that culture. I believe you
can do it. I know what was done for me. (Tucker 1)
I have met very few teachers that have all of those values, but the ones that do
have those values were my favorite. I remember things from their class, not only subject
material but things about life that have provided guidance. I want a teacher who is
truthful, and that uses their position to its advantage, someone who teaches through their
actions. Someone who shows up every day to help overcome certain fears and challenges
the student may have but challenges the student at the same time, someone that prepares
the class for the real world and teaches the students how to be interested in learning. They
teach students to be leaders by being a leader themselves. The Ontario Institute for
Studies in Education research group did a study that focused on the effect of leadership
on students learning stated, Effective education leadership makes a difference in

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improving learning. Theres nothing new or especially controversial about that idea.
Whats far less clear, even after several decades of school renewal efforts, is just how
leadership matters, how important those effects are in promoting the learning of all
children, and what the essential ingredients of successful leadership are (5). Leadership
is not only important in the class room but outside of the classroom too. It shows it is
okay to come out of the comfort zone and take charge when necessary.
It is critical for the teacher to engage more with their students, and it is critical for
the student to engage more in the classroom. If the parents fail and the teacher fails,
hopefully they have awesome Grandparents. It amazes me how big of an impact a teacher
can make if they really try, and it amazes me how a student responds in a more engaged
environment. Global marketing executive Elissa Moses (2000) notes that
Global teens have been brought up to experience and expect sensory stimulation.
This generation is constantly looking for new thrills that entertain. The preferred music is
loud. The movies enjoyed feature fast action. The dances are rhythmic and frenetic. . . .
Global teens have a very low threshold for boredom. . . . Do not bore this generation or it
will abandon you. (p. 45)
This demonstrates the need to engage, times are changing and typical lectures are
not cutting it anymore. As a student I am here to learn and get an education, participate
when necessary and as a teacher it is up to them to give us a chance.

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Works Cited

(Klem, Adena, Connell, James. Relationships Matter: Linking Teacher Support


to Student Engagement and Achievement Journal of School Health Vol. 74, No.7 p262273 (2004) Web. 04 April 2015)

(Pianta, Robert, Hamre, Bridget, Allen, Joseph. Teacher-Student Relationships


and Engagement: Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Improving the Capacity of Classroom
Interactions Handbook of Research on Student Engagement, DOI 10.1007/978-1-46142018-7_17 (2012) Web. 05 April 2015)

(Leithwood, Kenneth, Louis, Karen, Anderson, Stephen, Wahlstrom, Kyla. How


Leadership Influences Student Learning) Learning from leadership Project (2004) Web.
05 April 2015

Mike Rose. I Just Wanna Be Average. Exploring Relashionships: Globalization


and Learning in the 21st Century.

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