So! On the readings this week, we’ve been assigned to read all about development of children, through self, social, and moral ways. In addition, how do cognitive views and keeping attention relate to that? Well, that’s what I’m here to explore. And by explore, I mean read.
I think that the first thing that I learned was how rampant eating disorders were for adolescents. According to the text, close to 1% of adolescents become anorexic, which to me makes me think of the following:
If I have a class of 33 students every year, meaning that every 3 years, I’d have a student who was anorexic, which drives home the point that I need to be aware of this, and be able to properly deal with it. It really brings emphasis that you need to be seizing every opportunity where it’s appropriate to talk about health.
The second thing I learned was how much attention a teacher has to pay to the way they present their academic challenges. As an example, you have to properly balance caring for students with having high expectations of them, but you can’t allow yourself to sway to either side. You effectively have to walk a tightrope with teaching, because swaying to either side makes it drastically more difficult to come back to a balance without overshooting to the other side.
Swaying to either side can either leave students with impossible challenges, or with no real challenges whatsoever, neither of which is helpful to the students.
A question I had before this was “How are we supposed to command attention?”, and I had this question because I know personally how difficult it can be to sit still and only pay attention to the person in front of you for a while. After all, I’m a university student, and while that activity isn’t something we can avoid, it never really gets easier. So how do we get students to do it?
The third thing I learned was that commanding attention in a classroom really isn’t as complex as I made it out to be in my head. A couple examples the book gives are:
Don’t give directions during transitional movements. Only give clear and concise directions while standing still. This commands more attention than anotherwise.
Coincidentally, that’s also the thing I’m going to be looking into with other sources as well: methods for commanding more attention passively. I believe that using as many sources as I am able would help my development as a teacher, and would also help my student’s development as well. Therefore, even though the resources I have are very well-written, I’ll also look for some alternate opinions, and then try to mix and match my own.
Honestly, one of the most personal issues that this book talks about to me is the idea of self-confidence. Self-concept is, as per the book, “Part of our everyday conversation”. I take this to heart, because everything we say and do is effectively on a pedestal for everyone to see. Learning to accept that is part of growing up, but the way by which we accept that varies. I’d like to learn how to teach acceptance of that in a healthy way.
I think a question that still remains in my mind would be:
How do we deal with our own failure, while still remaining vigilant for others?
I know I’m gonna mess up at some point, and I know everyone is, because that’s part of being a teacher. I think what I’d like is an in-depth way or method of dealing with our own failures as teachers, when they stare us in the face every day.
I guess that’s something that’ll come with experience. Ah well.
The home of Strum Krutzz 
I’m pretty sure I tried to post a response already, but my post got lost/erased when I had to log-in. Maybe my post didn’t get lost, and is floating around somewhere. If so, then I’m about to be a broken record.
Whatever.
Your views on self confidence really resonate with me. I think too often we associate self confidence with the ability to identify our own strengths. However, what students really need is a teacher who is able to confidently identify and be comfortable with his or her weaknesses. Nothing to hide here.
Regarding eating disorders, I think that a huge factor in helping our students who may struggle is to learn the art of listening. This is something my dad has taught me many times; learning to listen to someone is one of the most effective ways to help them overcome their struggles. This does not mean passively waiting for a child to open up to us. In fact, we must actively create opportunities for our students to open up about their struggles. This can happen through discussion, the use of drama games, or even through normal conversation. When a student is struggling, someone to talk to, someone who cares, is invaluable.
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