Impact:
One’s teaching should be impactful, but there’s many other aspects to be impactful as well. There are many components to what it means as “being a teacher”, some of it will vary based on where you are located, other aspects will remain the same. According to the Oxford definition of, “To teach,”, it means “show or explain to (someone) how to do something” but life as a teacher would be simple if that was all there was to it. Looking at this through a physics teacher’s lens, I also wish to bring in a sense of wonder, curiosity, and excitement into learning physics, the subject that explains why and how everything works. In a world where coding classes are in high demand, then teaching physics would be teaching students the codes of the universe itself. Let students think of how roller coasters conserve energy, how heat transfers allow for students to create ice cream for themselves, and nurture their own curiosity is another way in which a teacher can be impactful besides teaching itself.
Humanity and Culturally Responsive Teaching
However, another component that must never be forgotten is the human element of teaching, as the key component of it is the students themselves. Within Urban education, the students have their own complexities of life such as homelessness, work, or in the worst case, family tragedies. As the teacher, one has to also think as to how to do more than just teach, how to also create a safe and welcoming environment so that the students can just take a moment to leave those complexities outside of the classroom so they can just learn. There are many ways in which that welcoming environment can be created, the decorations around the room, the tone of your voice, to things as simple as welcoming them to the classroom with a smile on your face. It is even possible to help contribute to a student’s path taking a turn for the positive just by listening to them as people, giving a second chance, or connecting them to resources to help them overcome their own personal struggles in their lives. There was a tragedy in the community that affected one of my students and revealed the burden that they faced, as well as how many people they were supporting. In that moment, I realized that the best way for me to show up for them, was not as a teacher, but as an adult who would listen to them while they just get to just be a teenager after having to assume the role of an adult for everyone in their life. There were many other instances were seeing my students beyond the classroom allowed them to feel confident and comfortable being in the classroom.
Joy
An excited student is one who is ready and focused to learn. During my teaching, I often sought ways of being a sense of joy and excitement to the classroom through the labs and activities. With physics lending itself to being more of a physical science, it allowed us to see the laws of physics in action. Showing how increasing the time it takes for momentum to change to save lives was shown through an egg dropping competition. Students got the chance to connect heat capacity to food by learning how different ingredients had different heat capacities or being able to make ice cream.
Sense of Safety
During my teaching career, I was having multiple difficulties in relation to classroom management, or simply that I could not reach them. Trying to project my voice more was having some limited effects, or I’d have to repeat myself, or other difficulties. I tried doing clapping as a way to break through the noise, something different than just adding another voice to the mix but it was received poorly. I decided to just stop and ask them what method they’d like best which ended up being some kind of bell or chime (It has been working well). There some interesting responses like sing the star-spangled banner, bark like a dog, other animal noises. There were serious ones like using a bell or talking loudly. However, some had me concerned such as, “bang an object loudly”, “yell at us”, or most concerning of all, “take your anger out on us”. I hope to never become a teacher who takes their anger out on their students. with how well documented the negative effects of such behavior, even if my classroom was silent and well behaved, I would still deem it be an unsafe classroom as the students would be in constant fear for when the adult in charge will release their anger.
Holistic View of Students
The other ways in which a teacher can be impactful for their student’s lives will ultimately act as a scaffold, and better open the doors to do the teaching that we aim on doing, whether it be science, English, math, history, or other classes. Each student has their own unique and complex lives that they live. Serving only the student and not the person will not truly reach the student either. There have been many points where I realized the person’s needs weren’t being met, and therefore, I could not reach them as a student. This is my teaching philosophy, that there is so much more to being a teacher than just teaching, because sometimes, just providing the human element is what ends up making a significant difference in their lives and makes it possible for them to be an active participant within their learning.