Do Not Accept "I'm Not Smart Enough"- Week 8

 

 

 

Do Not Accept "I'm Not Smart Enough"

 

 

 

This week we heard from Jon Smith about the importance of getting students engaged and motivated about writing. During his lecture he talked about his personal experience with dealing with students in the classroom. For the main portion of career he worked with students who were in the special education program. He could not get his students to write at all, even about things they liked. To relate to them he decided to have them publish their writings, in order to get the students to want to write. So the students wrote and edited the chapters of this first book together. Little did Jon know that this was just the start of his whole school district adopting his idea.

 

 

The most important thing that I was able to take away from Mr. Smith's video was the fact that we as teachers must be attentive to our students. We must always want what is best for them, and we must push them to do their absolute best at all times. If Mr. Smith didn't push his kids, they would have struggled all the way through school till graduation. It is easier to accept the fact that a group of kids aren't good at a subject, but when doing so it makes you except less of them as a student. Knowing that all children can and will learn, no matter what their difficulties should be number one to all teachers. We as teachers should not accept it when students say "I'm not smart enough" or "I can't do it," because we know deep down that all children have a desire to learn and grow. Never giving up on our students is a big take away from Mr. Smith's lecture. 

Following Mr. Smith's example, we as future educators can incorporate technology and online resources into our classroom everyday. We could do so by incorporating eBooks into the class resources. This can be used in the same way as Mr. Smith did; allowing the children to create their own books for anyone to access. But we could also use eBooks to help those who have trouble reading perhaps. Some eBooks provide tutors or other helpful tools such as sounding out words with the children to help them understand what is written.  eBooks are also interactive, so the children are able to become more involved with the text, rather than just reading from a piece of paper.