Perspective

Imagine yourself a teacher, if you aren't already one. Imagine yourself entering your classroom on the very first day and you find yourself surrounded by twenty-four round little faces. Some of them are beaming, some of them appear nervous and shy, and then the rest appear a bundle of emotions you haven't quite figured out yet. It's September and right away you feel a longing to get to know each and everyone one of them. In the back of your mind you fear that 10 months wont be nearly enough time to get to know them as well as you hope but you remind yourself that your job is to be there for them, to listen to them, to teach them about life and learning to get a better sense of how their own life journeys have helped create the little people that they are today.

Isn't it interesting to think how each and every child can enter your life with a truely unique personality? We all come from different families, cultures, neighborhoods, experiences, and beliefs and with these differences we find ourselves coming together in one room aiming for one goal: education. We cannot ignore these differences and we must therefore embrace them. With our differnces we realize that there isn't one way, belief, solution, or answer because there are many. We realize that we adapt and exerpience differently than others and learning is an entirely unique situation for all who experience it. We must learn how to be open minded and willing to listen if not agree with all that makes us diverse. What better place to create a smiliar representation of a diverse yet functioning community than what you promote within your own classroom.

I want to revist the importance of getting to know your student and how such a connection can enhance the learning relationship you help build with them as their teacher. If we great a positive learning environment full of students that are comfortable being themselves and able to express the way they see the world I believe that this environment provides an optimal learning opportunity for all. In Anne Lamott's book, Bird by Bird she explains how one situation can be easily depicted and experienced in a number of different ways. Lamott writes "If I tell thirty students to write me a story about two married people who are considering divorce until something unforeseen happens, they'll give me thirty wildly different stories, because they will have thirty different personal histories and sensibilities" (p. 58). I feel that this particular vignette in which she tells the reader is significant for a number of reasons. Firstly, I appreciate how she introduces the possibility for many different ways one story could play out. For one person divorce may have a particularly negative connotation and elicit horrific memories. For another, it could bring about a positive situation, the beginning of a life of freedom and happiness. What I see to be significant here is that no matter what story is told we must remember there is a person behind each and every one of them. It is the person who we must pay attention to, their life, their experiences and all that they can teach us about perspective and personal reality.

I'm working at remembering that behind each face is a story and I need to come across as that teacher who is willing to listen.