Double Entry Journal #5

“In an ideal classroom everyone treats what is to be learned with reverence that generates mutual respect among teachers and students” (Woodruff 2001, 192).

I chose this quote because this is how I plan on running my future classroom. I believe that it is so very important for your students to respect the teacher. I feel that they best way to make is happen is in three key factors. Key factor one; being that everyone needs get to know one another. That includes peers knowing peers as well as your students knowing some things about you. Which brings me to key factor number two; if you allow your students to get to know you they are more likely to respect you more. Plus, if you allow your students to teach you some new things here and there that will make the students feel like they can relate to you more which is very important. Lastly, there is a fine line that must not be crossed and that’s having your students view you just as someone who is a “friend.” You do want your students to trust you, but in order to have them respect you; you must never lose the role of being the one that is in charge because once you have lost that role it is very hard to gain it back.

1. What is reverent listening and how can it support culturally responsive teaching?

Reverent listening can be described as listening to someone with deep respect to what they have to say. This can support culturally responsive teaching because in culturally responsive teaching we encourage our students to listen to each other and encourage different ideas and that is just was reverent listening is doing. Reverent teaching or listening is much more then teaching students merely imparting knowledge. They realize that good teaching involves forming character, molding destinies, creating an enduring passion for learning.

2. Give an example from your own schooling experience of what this quote means:

    Reverent listening is not to be confused with humiliation and domination by others who force us to listen, and even less so, with the kind of incompetence that wants to be told what to do.

I think the best example I can give from my schooling that explains this quote is having a teacher that has you debate over a certain topic with one side for it and one side against it. You are pinning two groups with different views against each other which will most likely cause conflict which is something we don’t want. I think the best way to fix this would be breaking into small groups and sharing our thoughts about the particular subject because this gives students a chance to really understand how others are feeling as well as cutting out the pressure of students feeling they have to always agree with what your friends think. This allows them to think on their own and come up with their own conclusions. 

3. What is meant by a "laundry list of value ethics"? Give an example from your own schooling experience. And then explain how this approach to character education can be NON-culturally responsive.

I understood a “laundry list of value ethics” as having a list of values in order of importance.  I have seen this all throughout my schooling. I have had a lot of teachers who feel that there are a set of value ethics that we must following and this approach to character education can be non-culturally responsive because we are trying to teach students that just because you think a different way doesn’t necessarily mean you are wrong. We need to look at each other as individuals which means not everyone has the same list of value ethics. 

4. Have you ever had a teacher that at one time or another exhibited the traits of a reverent teacher? What did they do? How did they make you feel?

When I entered the Education Program I encountered teachers who exhibited traits of reverent teaching. I felt like I finally had a voice in the classroom and what I said was taken into consideration not only by the teacher, but by my peers. It felt amazing to finally be able to discuss things that were important to me and know that no one was judging me.

5. What factors contribute to a "toxic" school culture?

Factors that contribute to a “toxic” school culture is having a teacher that doesn’t listen to their students or take into consideration their thoughts or ideas. Teachers really need to listen to their students because it will help them not only grow as a teacher, but they are helping their students by making them feel that what they have to say is important which opens the door for respect between the student and the teacher. 

 6. Find a quote in this article that you would like to incorporate into your own philosophy of education and explain how it fits or changes your philosophy of education.

“Children are like wax, not iron and can be molded.”

I felt this quote supported my philosophy of education as well as fitting the definition of culturally responsive teaching. Teachers need to understand that everyone different and we can’t just do the drill and kill approach. Children learn in different ways and in order to “mold” them we must teach in a way that they understand it. 

 

7. Find a strategy/activity conveyed in a video, blog posting, lesson plan, or online article that will help you become a  teacher who cultivates a reverence in their classroom and school community (key search terms: teachers and reverence, teachers and mindfulness, teachers and rituals, routines (do not search teachers and ritual without the routine qualifier. If you do you will be disturbing stuff ). Link to it and describe how you will use it in your future classroom.

Click here to view the article I chose that conveys reverence in the classroom. 

I chose this article because it really broke down reverence teaching and helped me understand it better. When someone is learning something for the first time it is best to teach it to them in the simplest terms possible and then eventually move onto a bigger concepts. I feel this article helps people understand what reverence teaching is in a simple form.