"Teacher Amnesia"

One of the the disadvantages of teaching is the stress it puts on the teachers.  Teachers feel responsible for the progress their students are making.  Joe Brooks, in his article "Don't Get Teacher Amnesia," calls this teacher Amnesia (Brooks para. 2).  Being a teacher can be very stressful and teachers become very hard on themselves.  The article explains how it almost seems like teaching causes someone to age faster than the average person (Brooks para. 2).  Teachers tough task of teaching young kids, is difficult to put on one person.
Teaching can also keep someone very young at heart (Brooks para. 2).  Being around young people all the time, helps people stay in touch with their young side.  Teachers have to stay in touch with their young side in order be a successful teacher.  A good teacher knows what their students are thinking and what they want.  With out thinking like a student they would not be able to get through to their students and would never be a good teacher.

Sources:
Brooks, Joe. "Don't Get Teacher Amnesia." New Teacher Success Begins Here!. LDH Technology. Web. 30 Oct. 2012.

Hands on Experience

I have been wanting to be a teacher since I started high school.  Since I had always wanted this, over the summer I was asked to tudor my cousin in math, the exact subject I want to teach.  This hands on experience is so much different than learning or hearing about it.  I got the chance to experience what it is like to teacher the exact subject and age that I am hoping to teach in the future.  I went through the frustrations that teachers go through everyday, as well as the satisfaction of making a difference in the students life.  Even though this is not exactly what it is like to have a full class of students who most likely do not want to be there, I got a good taste of the teaching experience.  This experience only makes me more excited to one day have my own class of students and help them to learn something new and help them grow as students.

Teachers Must Know

It is always important for a teacher to know what motivates his or her students.  If the students aren't motivated, they will almost accomplish nothing.  Every student is different and will be motivated differently.  Some are motivated by just being told what to do (Warren para. 4).  They simply listen to what the teacher is saying, and do it because they feel obligated to.  Other students must receive some sort of reward (Warren para. 5). Whether it is being able to play sports or the grades they receive from the work they do, some students just need that something extra at the end of all their work to help them stay motivated.  How to motivate his or her is important for a teacher to know.  Without motivation nothing will be accomplished and the students will never learn what they need to.

Source:
Warren, Linda. "What Motivates Children to Learn?" Educational Articles. 2012. Web. 23 Oct. 2012

"Controversy in the Classroom"

One of the biggest controversies in public schools is whether or not to teach religion or how to teach it.  At the same time, religion is very important to learn about since it is very important to the world history along with the United States history.  But with all to controversy, some schools are finding it easier just not to teach it.  One reason is that religion is difficult to teach without any bias (Barton para. 6).  Every teacher has their religion, so trying to every religion without a bias is very difficult.
Another thing is that the parents do not want their children learning about any religions besides their own (Barton para. 10).  They do not want their children's views to be effected by other people besides themselves.  Parents know that their children are young and minds are easily changed since they just accept anything that they are told.  They are scared that their children will be effected by their teachers and what they are say, so they do not even want to take the chance of them learning other religions from anyone but them.
Learning about religion is very important to the worlds history yet there are some risks to it.  This created the controversy.  Parents are worried about their children because it is difficult for teachers to teach religion with any bias.

Source:
Barton, Keith and Jennifer James. "Religion in History and Social Studies." American Historical Association, 2006. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. 

Impact

Being a teacher is a very important job.  Students look up to them and these students' teacher might even become role models to them.  This makes it important for teachers to make impacts on their students.  Making sure that their students feel good about themselves and are proud.  Joe Brooks, in his article "Teach it Forward and Reap it Forever," talks about an impact one of his teachers had on him.  His teacher wrote hime a not saying what a pleasure it was having Joe in his class (Martin para. 6).  This really impacted Joe and gave him a certain confidence (Martin para. 9).  He now does this for his students, picking just one and giving them a note to tell them what a pleasure it was having them in his class (Martin para. 10).
Teachers really need to make sure that their students know that they are proud of them and enjoy being there.  Joe encourages teachers to make sure that is known because who wants to sit in a class where their teacher hates everyone.  As a teacher, people need to make an impact on their students, and there are many ways to do this.

Source:
Martin, Joe. "Teach it Forward and Reap it Forever." New Teacher Success Begins Here. LDH Technology. Web. 17 Oct 2012.

Teacher's Arguments

One of the biggest arguments in teaching right now is the debate between phonics and whole language way of teaching young kids to read.  Phonics is the originally way that schools taught their students how to read (Kaura para. 2).  First the kids would learn each letter and then move on to the sounds they make and were eventually able to put words together (Kaura para. 3).  This seemed to work well and kids were able to figure words out on their own. Whole language, on the contrary, was teaching students complete words at a time, having them memorize every word intend of the single letters that make up the words (Kaura para. 8).
Both of these methods have their advantages.  Phonics allows the kids to learn less and allow them to learn on their own.  While whole language learning allows the kids to focus less on sounding out words and more on interpreting entire books or even just sentences.
This argument has lasted very long time and seems to never be settled because both ways have their advantages and disadvantages, so I believe that it would best to just combine these two methods to get the advantages of both and giving the students their best chance to be great readers.  I know that I learned from phonics and do have trouble comprehending books and essays. Maybe if I my teacher had combined phonics with whole reading I would be a better reader as well as comprehender.

Source:
Kaura, Rajni. "Phonology vs. Whole Language." ESL Website for Students and Teachers. Michael Buckhoff. Web. 10 Oct. 2012.

Staying Motivated

Making sure students stay motivated could be an educator's hardest job. Yet it is also one of the most important jobs he could have. The article, "Top 12 Ways to Motivate Students," provides a couple way for teachers to makes sure that his students stay motivated and focused because thats the only way they will learn.
One of the tips is to "expect excellence" (Condron). I think that this is very important because if you expect your students to fail, they most likely will.  Yet, if you have high expectations for them, they will do their best to live up to those expectations and succeed.  Students will a lot better in school if their teachers make it clear what they want and expect of their students.
Another tip is to give students jobs (Condron).  When students are giving specific tasks to do they focus on them and make sure that they are done correctly.  Students will make sure that they are proud of what they are doing.  If they are given jobs, they will do everything they could to make sure their job is done right.  Teachers really need to make sure their students stay motivated and these are some really good ways to make sure of that.

Source:
Condron, Annie. "12 Ways to Motivate Students." K-12 News, Lessons & Shared Resources By Teachers, For Teachers. K-12 Teachers Alliance. 2012. Web. 9 Oct. 2012.

Code of Ethics

The basic code of ethics for an educator is that that educator "strives to create a learning environment that nurtures to fulfillment the potential of all students" (Code par. 1)  A teacher needs to make sure that they are always looking out for the well-being of their students and that they are doing whatever they can to help their students.  As a friend or even just a fellow classmate, I try to do whatever I can to help those around me.  I offer my help whenever I can and do the best I can to help them with what they need.  I think it is very important for teachers to have that urge to help people.  Because without that urge, they would have no motivation to give his or her students the best possible education that a teacher can give them.
In preparation to one day becoming a junior high or high school math teacher, I am taking classes like math classes and teaching classes to help me better understand what I am going to teacher and also to better understand how to teach it.  Another thing that is helping me prepare is my will to always learn new things.  Being a teacher you need to be able to adapt with your students and change your ways of teaching to adapt with their ways of learning. So being open to new things is always important.  One more thing that helps me prepare is this research, which helps me to know what I am eventually going to get my self into one day.

Source:
"Code of Ethics for Educators." Association of American Educators. Association of American Educators. 2012. Web. 9 Oct. 2012.

"Change Phobic"

One of the biggest problems teachers have, is that they will not change their teaching ways.  Some methods do work for some time, but eventually they get out of date.  The article, "Be a Pro-Change Teacher," by Joe Martin, challenges teachers to let their students throw in some ideas to switch up some of the teaching methods they use.  I think this is very important for teachers to do because it is always good to get a students input on how a teacher is teaching a class.  You can see what they are thinking and how they are taking things in.  It is obvious that teachers usually know a little more about teaching than students do, but it is still good to know how students of that generation take things in, and how they are processing new information.
All teachers should consider doing this, just to get a feel for what their students are thinking, because even if they come up with stupid ideas and nothing that could be possible for a teacher to do, maybe there really is nothing more they could do.  It is always important for teachers to stay connected to their students in whatever ways possible.  This could also be a good way for a teacher to get to know his or her students better.

Source:
Martin, Joe. "Be a Pro-Change Teacher." New Teacher University. LDH Technology. Web. 1 Oct. 2012