The article “Turnaround Teachers and Schools,” by Bonnie Benard was by far the most inspiration article I feel we have read all semester long!! I agreed with many points made in the article and was intrigued by so many of Benard’s arguments I do not know where to begin. The article discusses the issue of “closing the achievement gap” and uses several cases about real-life teachers and schools as examples of those that go above and beyond in the quality of teaching, with aims of reaching out to all students regardless of their background or struggles in school. These “Turnaround Teachers and Schools” provide beneficial educational strategies and programs that are built on “resilience,” providing 3 basic “protective factors” (as called in this article), that are “critical to healthy development and school success: caring relationships, high expectations, and opportunities for participation/contribution” (Benard, 1991, 1996). I could not agree more that these three factors can “turnaround” almost any struggling student! Reading this encouraging article has contributed to several additions I will be making to my own teaching philosophy. I am a firm believer that once you show someone you care about their lives and treat them with genuine respect they will feel equal to you in value and importance. Through the process of creating these caring relationships with your students you can encourage them to excel when they are feeling doubtful of themselves. Oftentimes children do not have the support they need from someone at home or even have the necessities to live healthy lives, especially those living in poor conditions and low-income areas. As teachers to these “at-risk” students, we often do not realize how strong a leader we can become in their lives or the impact we can have upon them. This is the “POWER OF A TEACHER” that Benard talks about. I thought further about how my teachers have impacted me in my life also. Other than my close family and friends, my teachers have been the people who have shaped who I am today and believed in my abilities as an artist and a student, in and outside of school. I thought about how in our teacher (Ms. Boyer;-)), told us how much she cared about us and how comfortable she felt being around us and teaching us. She also explained that she does not view us as merely her students, but as if we are equal to her and that she learned just as much from us as we did from her! This is a perfect example of how a teacher can show compassion for her students and express that she enjoys actively listening and getting to know them as people.
Personally, if I know my teacher truly cares about my success in their class and beyond, I cannot help but want to do well. I cannot explain it, but I almost feel that I must do well in these teachers’ classes because I know they have invested their time and personal energy into helping and guiding me. I think that a teachers’ compassion for her students makes a huge difference in a student’s success because it motivates them to do their best and try to prove what they are capable of. My favorite quote from this text related to how “turnaround teachers” use lessons that are “student-centered” and focus on the understanding the “whole child” in all of their facets, moving beyond cognitive skills. Benard then states that these special teachers “also understand that student motivation is driven by needs of love and belonging, respect, autonomy/power, mastery, challenge, fun, and meaning, and that successful learning experiences are designed to meet as many of these needs as possible…”. I feel this is very important because I too want to be a teacher that tries to fulfill the needs of my students to the best of my ability, becoming more than just their teacher who teaches them information.
Along with my comments on Benard’s article, I also wanted to try to empower others to do the same with their students. I challenge my classmates and other teachers to-be to REALLY consider the affect and impact you have on the children in your classroom. As teachers we not only impact their education, but their lives and the person they will become after they leave our classroom. It is a rather strange comparison to make but as I was driving back from school after reading this uplifting article, I began to think of the relationship between the effects we have as teachers on our students to that of the decisions we make while driving on the highway. The decisions we make while driving consciously and subconsciously (like the decision to let my mind wander away from the road right nowJ), effect all other drivers on the road. I can either choose to make reckless decisions or “thoughtful” decisions that will affect those around me whether I know it or not. Not concentrating on the job at hand (driving), could cause me to wreck, ruining someone’s life or my own. I can also choose which direction I want to go, leading me in either the right or wrong direction.
These decisions we make during driving are much the same as those we make when we are teaching. We are always influencing our students and setting examples for them whether we realize it or not; just as we make decisions on the road affecting the other cars around us to act accordingly (I.e. Changing lanes without noticing the car next to you causes the other driver to make a split-second decision also). As a teacher I can either decide to make “thoughtful” decisions about my teaching and my students or I can be uncaring and “reckless” with the way I teach them. A non-resilient teacher is a reckless one and can have negative effects on the students, just as our careless decisions can while driving. We must be aware of our students and try to predict how they may need help. This means being actively involved in our students’ lives and paying attention to their words and actions. Just as we should ideally be doing on the road…we should constantly be re-evaluating our surroundings and all other cars on the road. Lastly, when driving we can choose to go the “right” way on the road, similar to how we can also choose to lead our students in the right or wrong direction. Ignoring our students individual situations and the specific help they might need beyond academics, could only lead them in the wrong direction. If I could choose one thing that I wish for you all to take away from my comments here (and Benard’s article), it would be for all teachers to TRULY consider the impact you can and WILL have on your students and to NOT take it lightly! Helping your students to the best of your abilities and making them feel good about themselves can only in turn make you feel better about yourself also right??! It’s a win-win situation!!
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