Journal #1: The Best, the Worst, and Why it Matters

Reflection #1: January 15, 2013

Who were your best teachers growing up and why?  Who were your worst teachers and why?  Why does this matter?

My best teacher was my sophomore and senior English teacher, Queen Henry.  It's easy to qualify her as the best for a couple simple reasons.  It always felt like her classroom was a community.  Every student had the opportunity to voice their opinions about an issue or about a book we were reading.  And it wasn't that we had these discussions, it's that these discussions felt like they mattered.  I was in high school, going through every problem a high school student does, with relationship problems and tensions with parents and college pressure.  But there in Mrs. Henry's class, my opinion mattered, and the other students and the teacher listened to what I have to say, and I listened to them.  We formed a community with fun roles for each member to play.  Some were readers, some were actors, some were activists.  Mrs. Henry made it seem like what we read in her class was relevant to our lives, and that we were key players in the discussion of the topic at large.  In short, the reasons she was the best teacher were the students' active participation in dialogue, the relevance of the subject matter, and the community that she built in her classroom.

It's hard to pick out my worst teacher because it feels like I had plenty.  I disliked some teachers (Mrs. Thibedeaux [11th grade pre-cal] and Mrs. Garcia-Meitin [7th grade algebra]) because of the perceived lack of relevance for the material.  I disliked others (Professor Krohn [Shakespeare, Modern Drama], Mrs. Kordsmeier [9th grade English], Mrs. Bordelon [6th grade World History], Mrs. Lancaster [7th grade Texas History]) because of the lack of involvement.  These classes were all very lecture-based, with little interaction or discussion with the students.  What these teachers told us was "correct," and we were expected to take it at face-value without questioning it.  Other students may remember these teachers differently, as is expected, but in my opinion, these classes were very low in involvement and intercommunication.

Why does it matter?  It matters because if I want to impress a student like I was, I need to be like Mrs. Henry, and not like the other teachers.  The very simple answer is that if I want to be what I thought was a good teacher, I have a good example to emulate in Mrs. Henry, and I have examples to avoid in my reflections of past teachers.  I can take what I disliked from those classes (perceived lack of relevance and lack of interaction), and I can focus on bringing those aspects into my classroom.