This made me think of how we often try to make all of our students fit into neat little boxes or categories so we can easily strategize around their needs. I find myself doing that as someone who is highly objective and date driven, but I need to get more comfortable with students bending those boxes and being more willing to provide experiences that I have not considered before if it it is what a student needs most. I really need to work on this because I will get frustrated at other peers when they label my students as "bad kids" or "gangsters" when I am doing the same by categorizing strategies to match my definition of the student.

Something that I think would be very valuable is observing a teacher who implements this style. I would like to see an expert lead that discussion so I can better understand the pitfalls and hurdles of using this style while also maximizing the student's experience. During my credential, we had a video data base we could access to observe certain teaching practices in action.

This goes back to the concept that teachers should continue to view themselves as life long learners so that they do not isolate themselves from new and insightful ideas. I remember during my student teaching, stressing out when I did not know the answer to my student's questions. The best piece of advice that I received in that moment was to be honest with your students that you do not know the answer, but continuing with something to the effect of "But we will find it out together!". This also shows students that learning should never end and that even a teacher who should be an expert will recognize their own short comings and work to fill them.

This is something I think we have addressed in our class a lot in the brief time we have had together. This reminds me of the concept we read and discussed that a lot of education began with a homogenous student body (white male) and because of that there are pre-defined metrics for success that alienate students from different backgrounds. I really like how this quote incapsulates the idea of how we sometimes try to make students fit into a mold rather than letting them create a new paradigm for themselves.

I believe this is a very dangerous mind set to have as a teacher. Intelligence and knowledge is all relative, and I remember in my first student teaching experience realizing very quickly that my most advanced students were by my definition of intelligence smarter than I was. Teachers should be able to put their egos aside and recognize that we can learn just as much if not more from our students if we provide them the proper opportunities to share their knowledge.

If a teacher talks at their students for an entire class the engagement and retention suffer since the students are not part of the learning experience. My favorite classes were the ones where I could talk the least and the students lead the exploration for the day. My goal was always to be someone who facilitates learning rather then lecturing.