Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ED 299/CORE II
Fall 2017
TEACH Movie Reflection
Throughout the movie documentary, TEACH, the four teachers all made changes
personally and professionally. Almost all the teachers had trouble with connecting material to the
students fully understanding the concepts, and a couple of the teachers had to teach skills that
isnt in their course title. For example, Joel, an AP World History teacher, was struggling to
teach his students how to write a thesis and a good essay, since they would have to do this for
their final exam at the end of the year. He was so used to being able to teacher led learning so
towards the end of the school year he saw struggle with connecting to the students and it was
difficult to tell if they actually understood what he was telling them. With the help of his mentor,
Joel was able to come up with an activity so the students could connect what they were learning
about in class to their community and learn how to write an essay at the same time. In this case
his class became student led learning and inquiry based rather than a lecture. With this he saw an
increase in quality of the essays his students were learning. By the end of the year many of the
students passed the AP test and it gave them confidence to challenge themselves. One of his
students, who struggled with writing didnt pass the AP World History test, but gave her the
confidence to still pursue her dreams and to take AP English the next year. All the teachers in the
documentary changed some aspect of their teaching style so it would better benefit the students
and in the end all the students showed significant improvement and were more engaged in their
personal learning of the material. I personally think that this characteristic isnt specific to
veteran teachers or to new teachers because both could be set in their ways. One of the most
important parts of what makes a good teacher is being willing to make changes to yourself so
I think all the teachers in the movie are good examples of successful teachers. They all
put the students needs first and genuinely cared for every single one of them. When students
were struggling these teachers went out of their way to learn new techniques and teaching styles
so that it would benefit their students. All the teachers made connections with their students and
had strong relationships with some of them, I strongly believe this helped the students give more
effort into their work because they knew someone believed in them and they didnt want to let
them down. That strong relationship also helped the students believe in themselves even when
they knew they were grade levels behind in certain aspects of the curriculum. One of the most
important aspects that makes a teacher successful is perseverance. Trying new things will get
difficult and frustrating and its very easy to just give up and say it wont work. But being able to
push through that thought and seek out help to get a better understanding of the benefits will in
the end prove to give better results than just reverting back to the previous teaching style. As a
teacher by demonstrating perseverance, your students will also learn this skill and learn through
example that they can push through something that is giving them a difficult time and that its
not the end of the world when they dont understand something. I would like to think that I
would be a successful teacher because I do my best to be flexible with teaching styles so I can
reach all ways of learning. I also know that learning doesnt always have to be serious and it
should be fun. I like to think Im funny and I have a good sense of humor so I dont feel the need
to take everything seriously. Im also creative and like to think of new ways to incorporate
learning into fun and creative ways for assessing student learning. This being said I am aware of
certain personal characteristics that could provide some challenges in the future. Sometimes I get
overambitious with a task or a project and then I can get frustrated but wont ask for help when I
need it. Im also a very passionate person and sometimes I catch myself getting too intense about
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the topic that Im passionate and sometimes unable to take a step back and try to see it from
There are many challenges to teaching, especially when youre trying to figure out a new
and effective way to explain a concept so that everyone in the class understands it and is able to
connect with it. Another challenge is ensure that all the students understand the foundation of a
subject because without a strong foundation its a lot harder to grasp more complicated concepts.
As educators how do we know if our students are being appropriately challenged individually
while still ensuring they wont fall behind in the curriculum? We know that everyone will be at
different levels in the learning and we cant just teach to one section of the class because thats
not beneficial for the class as a whole. We saw this challenge with Shelby, the 5th grade math
teacher, she had students at varying levels of math proficiency, leaving students frustrated or
bored because the lessons either were too challenging or not challenging enough. One of the last
challenges of teaching are the parents. Students have a varying amount of parent involvement in
their lives and as a teacher youll come across some parents who might not understand why
youre teaching they way you are or theyre upset because they have insane expectations for the
To help with these challenges, especially for new teachers parents can be a good source
of support. These signs of support can be really simple such as providing some background help
by making photocopies so the teacher has more time with the students. At the beginning of the
year, expectations should be discussed; this includes expectations for the students, teachers, and
parents so everyone can start off on the same page. It really comes down to, as a parent, just
letting the teacher know that you are supportive and willing to try to understand the teachers
perspective.
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community is who are teachers and what do they do? For me I truly believe that everyone can be
a teacher if we dont think about teacher in the traditional sense. A teacher is anyone who helps
another to learn and understand a concept thats important to the learners interests and learning
experience. They help teach us how to be a good citizen in our immediate community but also as
part of a global community. Teachers help to make connections and relationships with people
they meet. This relationship allows them to help encourage us and motivate us to realize the
My school experience has been mostly positive, but like most things in life there are
some negative aspects that have also shaped my personality. In elementary school, I loved
learning and was a very inquisitive kid. I was put into a French immersion program and soon,
and still to this day, my French became much better than my English. This would make me
frustrated with any homework in English, but I had very encouraging teachers who were willing
to work with me individually to help create new techniques to better understand the homework
and complete it efficiently. Not only did they work with me 1-on-1 but also as a whole class we
were encouraged to always try new things and ask questions. These two things have really
impacted me as a future educator because Ive experienced first hand the benefits of working
with students individually and working with the student to find a method that benefits them as
well as increasing critical thinking through the encouragement of inquiry-based learning. Middle
school, like for many students, was very difficult for me. I personally felt very lonely and never
felt like I fit in with anyone. I still like learning and wanted to go to class, but I never felt like I
had a safe place at home or school. This experience is so ingrained in my brain, that the most
important goal for me as an educator is to make sure that my classroom is a safe place for
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everyone who steps foot in it and that everyone feels valued for at least how ever long they are in
my class. High school is when I started to feel challenged academically for the first time in
subjects that I was excelling in. But with this challenge I had a very good network of support that
included friends and staff at the school. We were also given much more responsibility for our
actions and preparations for class. Ive seen this at a school visit last year at Shortridge High
School, they gave students the responsibility to keep certain parts of the school clean or to be
able to dress out of uniform, this made the students feel respected and gave them freedom to
express themselves as well as respect and trust the faculty in return. In high school I was also
encouraged to take on many leadership roles within the school community from academics,
clubs, and sports. This helped me develop confidence in different skills and helped develop
certain characteristics of my teaching style. For example, when I was co-captain of the varsity
basketball team, I learned how to address a problem we were experiencing as a team in a fashion
that was information but also inclusive to others ideas of how to improve ourselves. As captains
we did our best to encourage peer support and suggestions during practice, so if we saw a
teammate struggling with a certain play or drill, including ourselves, everyone felt comfortable
either asking for help or making suggestions to another. I personally feel that this really made
our team feel like a family and made our relationships more than just teammates.
There are a lot of very qualified individuals who may or may not choose to go into the
profession of education. I personally can see both sides and I know that Ive had thoughts about
going into research for Chemistry instead of teaching it. For those individuals who could make
great teachers, but choose to pursue something different may have many reasons for this choice.
One of the most talked about and obvious ones, is other jobs provide better jobs and benefits than
the education profession. They may want to impact their community in a different way by
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pursuing a passion that leads to a world-changing discovery. Just because someone chooses to
not teach doesnt mean they wont be a teacher to others. That being said, there are so many
reasons to go into the teaching world. You have so many opportunities to inspire a whole new
generation to change the world into a more caring, dream chasing, and accepting place. The work
is so rewarding because you can make a direct impact on your students and see the amazing
things they accomplish in and out of the classroom. Not to mention the connections and
relationships you can make with your students has the power to change their lives and inspire
them to pursue their passion and dreams even if it seems impossible at the time.
Even though there are so many benefits of being a teacher, there are also many challenges
that American teachers face today. One of these is not being properly compensated for the work
that they do. Teachers are some of the few people who truly love their jobs and put in an insane
amount of hours to figure out ways to help their students as individuals and as a class. There is
also a lack of support sometimes in communities for new teachers, which may cause new
teachers to leave the profession because they feel overwhelmed with the amount of work and
pressure of being an educator. Another important challenges is figuring out how to balance
meeting student needs and getting through the curriculum. Some classes may not have had a
good foundation for the course or there may be behavioral problems that greatly impact how
learning happens in the classroom. I personally feel that all educators should focus on the
students first, like what the principal of Westlane talked to us about. He said that even though
their grade as a school may not be very high, they know that they are doing good work because
theyve been focusing on what their students need as people and not trying to force information
With these challenges there are also ways for teachers to look for support. I would at least
hope that this could be found in the community, either as a school or in the larger surrounding
community. Within a school, a support network can be made through the faculty where you can
go to someone and ask questions or for suggestions without judgment and where people
genuinely care for you. For a larger community, a little bit can really go a long way, just
knowing that there are people who are going to advocate for the people advocating and caring for
your children. Just showing your support through an email or doing little things to help around
the class to show that all the hard work that the teachers are putting in is being seen and
appreciated. At the end of the TEACH film, we saw meetings with the teachers, students, and the
parents and all the parents were so grateful for the amount of time and effort the teachers put into
their children as individuals. These parents understood that teachers are an important to their
childs development not only as a learner, but also as a person learning how to overcome
challenges.