Teaching Hope: Engagement

The first entry in this section that really jumped out to me was entry forty seven, The Unreachable Student. The first reason that this entry really spoke to me was that, in some ways I was a lot like Monique in class. I really only raised my hand when I knew that answer and did not want to be called on when I didn’t raise my hand, and would often recoil if I thought the teacher was going to call on me. However, beyond that, I really loved the relationship and trust that this teacher built with his or her students, and the bond that they all created. That’s something that I really aspire to create in my own classroom, where students trust me and their classmates enough to share personal stories and struggles and help each other through those struggles. I also really loved the teacher’s “what we stay in this room, stays in this room” motto. This just helps build that trust with your students and that’s definitely something that I could see myself implementing in my own classroom.

The second entry that really spoke to me was entry seventy five, A Teacher’s Sexual Orientation. I found this entry interesting for a couple of different reasons, one, I, myself am a member of the LGBT community and something like, addressing your own sexual orientation to your students was something that had never personally crossed my mind before. While it’s a part of who I am, and I have no shame about it being a part of who I am, the idea of having students ask me about my sexual orientation is something that kind of makes me nervous. Another thing that I found interesting about this entry was the thought process this teacher goes through when answering this student’s question, and his ultimate decision to share this personal fact about himself to her.