Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Let's meet our students where they are
With the new Common Core standards emphasizing a greater need for public speaking, I felt this article related well. We have placed greater expectations on our students to present and speak in front of peers. This article really opened my eyes to the fact that not all students feel comfortable speaking in public. I haven't noticed any of my students this year exhibiting any signs of speaking phobia, but have in prior years. I really like the idea of meeting students where they are and gradually helping them to overcome their fears of speaking. This was a good reminder to meet them where they are, not where we are or where we think they should be. I hope to be more observant of my students in the future, and hope I can help them overcome their fears. Have you noticed your students exhibiting a fear of public speaking? What have you done to help them overcome their fear? Are these students getting more comfortable with speaking as their experience increases?
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This is often overlooked in education. I am not sure whether there are many teachers who are just not relationally based and thus turn to rules to navigate interactions or if it is a broader battle of the large institutions and for-profits seeking to impose their order, but regardless, there is absolutely nothing more important that the type of care mentioned in the article. Good find, Tiffany!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mark! Sometimes I feel that teachers, myself included, get so bogged down in schedules, procedures, and the subject at hand that we forget our prime reason for teaching. It's truly about the kids. When I catch myself getting bogged down in the institutional mire, I have a "pow wow" with my students and we just sit and talk about what's happening in their lives, frustrations, what they like, don't like. I love these times and I think my students do too.
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