Monday, May 11, 2015
It Takes Sacrifice
As a tutor I am able to get a pretty good understanding of the way my students are being treated at school. I can really tell which of my students' teachers care and which ones are just trying to make it through their day with as little effort as possible. The subject that I am hired to tutor the most is math which I know is a very difficult subject for some students to grasp. There are two students that I have in particular that I feel have very different teachers, one being the teacher who just lets the student slip through the cracks and is given useless tasks to work on, and the other being the teacher who cares deeply about their students and wants them to succeed. The first of my students never comes home with any homework, or additional assignments that can be worked on with his tutor. The teacher is well aware that I am at the students house once a week and yet there is nothing from the teacher that I can work on with the student to get him caught up in class with. Most of the time when I ask what the student worked on that day he replies with "Nothing, I just played on Cool Math Games" which if any of you have ever visited has games that do nothing to help a student practice math skills. I feel as if this student is just ignored at school and the only time he gets the help that he needs is when I am there to tutor and he is able to receive that one on one support. The other student that I have has a teacher on the other side of the spectrum. the student always comes home with additional work and comments from the teacher to provide me with the information that I need to better help this student. Another thing about this student's teacher is that she sacrifices her own time in order to help her students succeed. I know that if I am unable to complete an assignment with the student that the teacher stays in her room during her lunch period to help the students that require additional help. She gives up her own time to ensure that the students are able to understand the material and provides a setting where the students can receive that one on one help that they require. She will also stay after school to provide additional help. I believe that this is truly what it means to be a teacher. Someone who is passionate and willing to make sacrifices in order to help their students succeed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think this is a very important and interesting discussion topic as I too am a tutor for math and science for high school students. I think you hit the nail on the head describing the dichotomy of the approach that teachers can take. I have even had semesters where I have two students in the same school, taking the same course but with two different teachers. One teaching clearly showed they cared and did everything they could to help the students. The other teacher had more of a 'teaching yourself' philosophy and mainly assigned homework and reading to the students without providing much support. So this does happen.
ReplyDeleteMy issue is that all students deserve the same opportunity when it comes to education. It is unfair for one student to have an excellent teacher where they are interested in the course and the student is able to develop confidence of the abilities in school, whereas the other student struggles and ends up with low confidence (this can lead to many issues). Students then have to make choices that will ultimately affect where they end up in life, so this is an extremely important issue.
One last note I would like to make is something that I have to remind myself of from time to time: There is always two sides to the story and often times the family only has one side to give.
Thanks for the great discussion!
Respect for the second teacher. I have personally known teachers like that during my own high school experience. One of my grade 12 Math teacher would always have "office hours" after school for students who need additional help. Sometimes, missing one class or not understanding one concept can be the turning point in a student's grade. This teacher made sure no one was left behind. Of course it is not a teacher's duty to sacrifice their own time to help students, but doing so just shows how much the teacher cares. And that's what makes a respectable teacher.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right, it does take sacrifice. This is what teachers do. We sacrifice. Our jobs dictate that we only need to be in class, 15 minutes before the first bell and 15 minutes after the final bell. However, how many teachers follow this. Not the majority. I do admit, there are many who stick by these times, but even if they do, they are most likely doing some of the work at home.
ReplyDeleteI think it's important also to remember, that you may have some teachers who stay at lunch or after school or before school to provide extra supports, while others don't. Yet I don't think it's fair to say that these other teachers don't care. It's important to remember that teacher sometimes have many other obligations that they sacrifice their time for. Extra curricular activities such as sports teams for example. Maybe those teachers are taking a course like ours and don't have the time to spend. Maybe those teachers have a family at home, need to pick up kids from daycare, while the teacher who stays may not have any outside obligations.
There will always be teachers who are more dedicated than others. I can't say anything about the teachers who only use 'Cool Math Games' for their lessons, but I think the majority of teachers are professional and do go the extra mile for students. They might just do this in different ways.