First of all I want to say how amazing and valuable I thought today’s presentation on the Artemis Girls was. I hope that everyone got as much out of it as I did. I think that this presentation brought up many issues that occur within the classroom today. The one that stood out the most to me was stereotyping.
I currently work with one of the girls from the Artemis school and I will admit that the first time I met her, societal stereotypes got the best of me. I saw this punked out girl with crazy, multi- coloured hair and ripped up clothing and in all honesty (that I am not exactly proud of) I associated what she looked like with a “problem child”. HOWEVER, the minute she opened her mouth, her high pitched, cute little polite voice introduced herself to me and right away I felt guilty that I let stereotypes invade my first impression of her. She was one of the hardest working girls that I worked with all summer. Thus, I have learned my lesson in judging a book from its cover (especially today after learning so much more about her).
As teachers we need to be very open -minded and non-judgmental towards our students. Just because a student does not dress in a collared shirt and sweater vest does not mean they won’t be a grade A student. And just because a student does not have straight A’s (or even B’s or C’s) does not mean that they aren’t full of intellectual potential. It may just take us (as teachers and mentors) to recognize their hidden potential and inspire them to show it in whatever way they feel comfortable. Maybe this is common sense to some people but I think it’s an important issue to discuss. The girls gave us some great advice today, to me the most important being to look at our students as individuals and equals, in and outside of the classroom!
Okay, I think I have rambled on enough of how I benefited today and I was just wondering what the rest of you think? What was the most important or valuable lesson that you took out of today, if any? Do you think it is realistic and possible to take certain aspects out of alternative schools and implement in the public school classrooms that most of us will probably be teaching in?
Cheers,
Gillian
I think the most pertinent thing that we can learn from alternative schools is the simple fact that there ARE alternative schools. It occurs to me that we take the public school system for granted. Parents, students, even teachers seem to believe that public school is really the only option for kids from the time that they're 5 until they're 18. What we need to realize as educators is that we don't have a monopoly on education, and that if a student doesn't like the way we run our class, he or she can leave.
ReplyDeleteBy acknowledging this, I think we can recognize that we actually need to sell school to our students. We need to be enthusiastic, show that we want to be there, and make school as adaptable and interesting to our students as possible so that they feel like they've made the right choice by sticking with us.
All the terrible propaganda that they teach you in retail actually does work, and it has application to our careers as teachers as well. Dress well, greet people when they come in, ask how you can help, always try to find a solution to every problem, take responsibility, and above all else, MAKE SURE that every person leaves with more than they came in with.
Can you tell that I'm writing this from my chocolate shop?