In my classroom experience I find that caring for the students conflicts with being in a position of evaluator. When students are anxious about grades, they are less able to receive care. When I am setting the expectations I am one step removed from caring. My position is one of judge. So the care I show translates into coming alongside the students as performers under pressure rather than as the persons behind the student persona.
Yes, there are ways to get to know students outside the classroom, and a democratic teaching style can lead students to feel less stressed about results. All the same, the general climate of the school system is one that mitigates the full potential of care. What do I mean be "care"? I mean connecting with students in a way that leaves a deposit of empowerment, self-confidence, healing based on understanding who they really are.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
An acquaintance once told me, "dont worry if you don't know something, the kids dont know what you don't know." - Wrong!
ReplyDeleteStudents know when you are knowledgeable about what you are teaching, students know when you are passionate about an idea and students know when you care about their development. So what does this mean? Teaching through "care" equals success?!
Yes - Students can feel the love and support you have about their education through your respect for them as individuals.
Therefore, simply being a knowledgeable educator is not enough for successful student development. Students need to know you care about their situation (whatever it may be) and you are willing to discover with them, their strengths- building their confidence and self-worth.
Through this philosophy, education no longer becomes systematic but rather, just simply genuine.
In my opinion, evaluation does not need to be separate from care. A teacher can use evaluation as a way to help a student to become the best learner s/he can be by helping him/her to understand his/her personal strengths and weaknesses and suggesting areas/ways to improve. By acknowledging a student's strengths in his/her work, you are helping to empower him/her and giving him/her self-confidence in his/her abilities.
ReplyDeleteIf you begin to view evaluation as a way to walk alongside students, guiding them and helping them to succeed, it becomes more of a way to care for students. If students begin to view evaluation as a way to improve and become the best learner they can be, they may begin to feel less anxious about their grades. I do wonder, however, if there is a difference between primary vs. junior/intermediate or senior students?
Care just as love can also come in many forms, as care can sometimes come in the form of showing compassion when you know students are going through a rough patch (either in or outside of the classroom), it can also manifest itself through the teacher’s willingness to provide extra help before or after class for those students who are struggling academically. As teachers it is officially our job to be evaluators; however I believe it is also our job to genuinely care about the students and to help them grow both academically and as people. While care must be shown in the classroom it must never conflict with our ability to be professional; and as we have already established, evaluation is a significant part of our profession. Furthermore, while it may seem that evaluation may sometimes conflict with the act of caring, I find that the best teachers are those who can find a balance between the two. In many cases a poor evaluation is what helps a student to turn things around, as long as there is someone present to guide them. While caring may be constituted by being kind to students, and taking an interest in them as individuals, I believe that another form of care is manifested through the process of evaluation. A poor evaluation of a student is not always the most evident sign of care, yet as long as we show a consistent willingness to help struggling student to improve; as long as we are constantly searching for methods to bring out the best in our students; and as long as we help students to build back their confidence, then our care cannot be brought into question; even in the process of evaluation. In the end, a poor evaluation does not signify a lack of caring, giving up on students does.
ReplyDeleteAlex H
I do not think you don't care about the students just because you are about to assess or evaluate them. You are evaluating them so they can see either where they have progressed or needs improvement and this indication shows your care for the students to learn. You are not judging them based on your bias decisions, you are evaluating them based on what they have received from your teachings, based on their understandings and knowledge they have grasped and you have witnessed. Evaluating is not as evil as it sounds like. It is a form of care, that you want them to do well. When you don't tell them this, you don't care.
ReplyDeleteSalini F.X.
Sandra A
ReplyDeleteI think that it is difficult to show care but it is possible. When an environment is stressful (exam time!) I am sure that the student’s don’t feel the sense of care that they want to. But a teacher can show the children they do care but helping them prepare for the evaluation process by giving them study tips as well as fairly evaluating them (think multiple intelligence). One cookie cutter test does not work for all people so it really isnt fair to students to ask them to take a multiple choice test when they know (and often the teacher does as well) that they will not succeed on it. Our jobs as teachers are help our children to succeed in school and we will do that if we care.
I think if a teacher is doing evaluations honestly with students' considerations in mind he/she is being caring. I believe caring doesn't mean that a student should halt performing. If a teacher enjoys a good rapport with the students the school environment shouldn't be much of a problem. Setting rules and being caring go hand in hand.
ReplyDelete