Often times teachers are teaching for the test or collecting a paycheck. At least throughout my school career in high school that was what I experienced. Sadly, many of the teachers that I had grouping up did this. That was when I decided that I wanted to never be like them, that I wanted my students to master each concept. Now, I know there are to many standards for my students to master each one of them but I will do my best to make sure they understand the best that they possibly can. The article “9 Elephants in the (Class)room That Should “Unsettle” Us” really hit me hard. They really made good points but if I had to pick only a few I think the ones that affected me the most was we know that most of our students will forget most of the content that they “learn” in school, we know that most of our students are bored and disengaged in school, and we know that we’re not assessing many of the things that really matter for future success. Now, if those three don’t bother you I don’t know what will.
To me these hit me the hardest because I have seen this throughout my own education as well as while I have observed. The first one I have listed hit me the hardest because I feel that it goes back to teachers and schools only teaching for the tests. Going back to the mastering idea I want my students to learn and take the things I teach them into the real world. I don’t them to learn them to get through the test and then forget about them. The second one also hit me hard because I know that some classes I have not looked forward to because the teachers don’t love teaching and don’t make it fun. I believe that students should look forward to coming to school. It is their job for that time being and they should look forward to learning. It is our jobs as educators to make this happen. Lastly, not assessing the students based on what they can use in their future I think is ridiculous. I thought that as an education system we are are suppose to prepare them to go into the the real world.
Now, I think that because those hit me so hard it is my job in my classroom to change them. I want the students to understand why they are learning what they they are learning. How it can benefit them for later on in life. I know that not all concepts can be the most fun but I will do my best to make the learning fun in my classroom. I want to stray away from always doing worksheets and use more hands on learning to make it more fun. I believe by doing all this it will show what they have learned on their tests. It is our job as future educators to help fix the broken system, to take these 9 elephants and effectively change them in our own classrooms!
Photo CC By: Emaze
Literacy in the Digital Age Blog 
I liked your post and completely agree. I also really liked this article and was bothered by the elephants. I hope our school systems can be changed soon.
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I do too. I hope as a future teacher I can help change this.
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You made some good points here and I appreciate how you used your own learning experiences to drive these points home. It is always helpful to see someone else’s perspective in order to gain new knowledge or to adjust our own prior knowledge. With that being said, do you feel that testing should continue to be such a strict and frequent requirement in our public school system?
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I think it depends I think the standardized testing shouldn’t be there so much because everyone is only teaching for the tests for funding. However, I still feel we have to test the students to see where they are at in the classroom.
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I definitely agree with you on the matter of competing for funding which should never be allowed to happen. I really believe we can find other ways of evaluating student performance.
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I sure hope you didn’t have too many teachers that were there just to collect a paycheck! I am glad to see that you want to be different and actually make a lasting effect on your students academic and personal lives. You mention that you don’t want to use worksheets that much, and I think that could be a great way to give your students a break from all the worksheets, but I would simply recommend trying to keep a balance with different types of teaching methods.
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I totally agree!
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I think you are right in saying that if you are going to be a teacher, you really need to have a passion for it. If you don’t love to learn, then how do you expect your students to develop a love for learning? I’m sorry you had some bad experiences in your high school, but I would be careful in saying “often” most teachers are only there to collect a paycheck. There are a lot of amazing teachers in this world that go above and beyond their call of duty every day because they care so much for their students. Sometimes, even if a teacher isn’t good at teaching it doesn’t mean they aren’t passionate or that they don’t care. That being said, I’m glad that you are using those experiences to personally inspire yourself to be the best teacher you can be. How will you convey your love for learning to your students in the classroom?
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I agree. Just in my experience back home most of my teachers were there to collect a pay check. I am not saying that there aren’t passionate teachers. I will be one of those teachers that goes above and beyond for each of my students.
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I don’t doubt it! I think there are going to be a lot of excellent teachers that come out of this class. 🙂
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Great post! I picked the same three points and they really got under my skin! I am glad that you are also a future teacher that cares so much about the student’s well being! We are supposed to set our students up for success, yet we do not get taught that on a normal basis.
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I agree. We have to be that change.
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