When Nice is NOT enough, and Justice is required
Mapping out my role as a teacher would not fit into one neatly packaged body of parts, but into many bodies as I assume a variety of roles to meet the very challenging needs of my students. Most days I walk into my classroom I do not know what to expect so to be prepared, I carry a
Throughout the day, I
between multiple roles to manage the behaviors and and cope with the different personalities. At times I get confused managing so many roles. Managing multiple roles as a common practice for many of us on any given day, but I think as teachers we are required to draw on different aspects of our personalities and experiences we bring to classroom.
At times, I feel like I have to deliberate and settle a conflict between students, so I wear my robe as a
and listen cautiously to both sides of the case. My job here is very important because the plaintiff and the defendant have to be heard objectively so my biased opinion of either students does not cloud my judgement.
At the end of the day, I do not want to
a student. All students deserve a chance to be heard and made to feel validated. This requires a very fine of listening to every one’s perspective and considering the facts.
Sometimes facts is not sufficient when deliberating on a case, and I have to rely on my
skills to get to the root of the problem. In most instances I have to filter through layers of social emotional needs to discover deeper underlying reason, some ones’ feelings were hurt. If and when I am able to help the students come to a resolve I feel like it’s all in a days work. Just doing my job so I can do my job. After I have finally won their trust through our established relationship of mutual respect, I can now begin to
Thanks for your post Dena--I like the way you wove pictures into your writing like a kind of MadLib. And I appreciate the work of finding clip art of beautiful brown women! I only came up short when I saw the noose. That's such a powerful and terrorizing symbol and has such a particular racialized history. Seeing the rope in the context of schools made me think of the Jena 6 and other cases where nooses were hung from trees at schools to bully and intimidate Black children.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree in that teachers wear many hats as we navigate through just one academic day. The academic goals we have intended for a lesson sometimes have to be put aside to address the social and emotional needs of a student(s). If you try to stick to your academic agenda without unpacking emotional needs, the objective of the lesson may never be reached. We can use these moments are teachable moments that can teach a life lesson as oppose to a lesson objective. The careful balance comes in finding a balance so that every lesson does not become railroaded. Some of our students carry heavy baggage and the only safe place they have to unpack is in a carrying classroom. This goes back to your point of creating a learning environment where students feel validated, heard and that fairness is implemented. It takes time to create this environment. This too has to be intentional learning in our classrooms. Just as we ensure we meet the academic objectives, we have to make sure we are creating a safe, caring community or very little learning will take place.
ReplyDeleteCreating a safe nurturing environment is critical to the work we do. The more I read about Hammond, in her culturally responsive teaching and the brain, Thich That Hanh Happy Teachers change the world, Maynar & Weinstein In Hacking School Discipline, they all put a spin on classroom climate, but the bottom line is the culture created by the teacher will determine how much you can demand from your students.
DeleteProfessor Nunez,
ReplyDeleteI found myself connecting to your blog on every level. I've been teaching for 23 in a system where I have to take into consideration so many aspects of my students' lives before I can focus on teaching. I too have felt like a judge, mediator, parent, social worker, and sometimes even doctor. We have to be open to all of the crucial roles we play in our student's lives in order to fully embrace the teaching. I wonder what your thoughts are now considering the current environment we are dealing with now. Take into consideration the climate of the pandemic that has placed burdens on children having to learn remotely and then having to reacclimatize to in house teaching with the fears of getting sick. Which job title of a teacher do you think we will have to put-on the hat of most. What will take priority before we can get to actual learning? I'm curious to know how you feel on the matter.
Many Thanks,
Alison Deitch
Excellent questions, Ali. These are so thought-provoking. With respect to current situation, my challenge was to plan instruction on line while creating an online classroom that provides the social emotional support. This support was even more important than it had been before. Sometimes instead of getting bogged down with technology and academics, it is relevant to realize that our kids need an escape for socialization. Within my daily scheduled agenda, I incorporated time for Brain Breaks where students were expected to walk away from the screen and stretch. Also, there is time built in the day for morning meetings where I check in with them and see their little faces that just brightened up my day. I ZOOM with them later in the day during check out to see how their day went such as successes, challenges and help set plans for the following day.
DeleteDena Nunez
This post resonated deeply with me, as I am sure it must with all teachers. The roles we are expected to assume are as numbered and diversified as our students sitting before us. Not only are we teachers, but as you mentioned we are also expected to be entertainers, doctors,judges and entertainers. Add to that social workers,friend, mentor, enforcer,translator, mediator, and even parent. In no other profession do you face each day not knowing what your role or roles will be that day. I feel that the most important job of teaching is knowing which hat to wear when. This may change from day to day, lesson to lesson or perhaps minute to minute. Only by having the flexibility to change hats on an as needed basis can we truly meet the needs of our diverse learners and make them feel like accepted and valued members of a learning community. And, only when students feel like accepted and valued members of a learning community are they able to spread their wings and fly, reaching their full learning potential.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! Flexibility is key. To be able to ebb and flow with the needs of the students, or to be more proactive by creating a safe, nurturing classroom environment that is conducive to students taking the lead. By flipping the classroom on its head and allowing students to be the leaders learning can happen in the absence of the teacher.
DeleteI fully agree teachers wear many hats. Many people think teaching is easy and we have it made. Well we are not just educators. We play so many roles in our students' lives, caregiver, social worker, mediator, nurse and we may be the one constant they can rely on. Teaching is the easy part but in order to teach I have to ensure my students are fed, their emotional needs are met and they feel safe. Most of my students are intellectually disabled and looked down at or others view them as less than. I try to make them feel important, validated and heard. I want them to feel safe to express themselves. Now with the pandemic, how will we as teachers connect and support our students social and emotional needs? How will we make those connections without being able to interact with them in person?
ReplyDeleteHi Nichola,
DeleteThere are so many hats and roles we assume throughout a day to first meet the needs before we can even begin to teach. Otherwise, if we try to just jump in and teach when they are not yet ready to learn, we will have not done our job to satisfaction. Have we taught, if students have not learned? Hammond (2015) describes four different types of approaches to teaching. She identifies the warm demander, the sentimentalist, the technocrat, and the elitist. They range in degrees of active demanding, personal warmth, professional distance and passive leniency.
I completely agree with how you are feeling about the many roles we play as teachers. I do not think people who are not in the field of education realize that teaching is not just teaching. We do not go in to the classroom with our daily plans and expect that we will be able to cover those plans, though we are hopeful to achieve as much of it as possible. We strive to jump into those teachable moments and reach all of our learners; we cannot do that if we just teach from the book and do not expect for there to be some sort of interruption or snag in our day. We are flexible and roll with the punches and at the end of the day, our goal is to have our students learn something new! With teaching, it is natural to expect the unexpected, as we are dealing with twenty-four individual personalities who come from diverse backgrounds – some of which are hostile and abusive. As teachers, we must address such issues, which may mean a specific learning objective will not be met – often to the dismay of administrators and supervisors who, at times, place objectives and learning standards, above the mental well-being of our students. Why is it so difficult for those in decision making positions to value the individual needs of our children over specific daily learning objectives? Districts have cut so many mental health positions in an effort to secure budgets; yet, do so at the expense of the children.
ReplyDeleteHi Melissa,
DeleteUltimately is it our students who hurt by these cuts. However, we cannot afford not to educate our students. It cost more to keep people in prison than it does to educate them.
I totally agree with the stress of playing so many roles! That is why building a strong rapport with my students is so very important. Much of this connects to the Social and emotional needs of our children. If they feel that the classroom is a safe haven for them. they will share more of themselves with the teacher and their peers. We have morning meetings when we are able to share our feelings, stories, things that happened, etc. At the end of the day, I have kids share their "rose" or "thorn" for the day i.e. what was a good or not-so-good that happened to them. It is heartwarming to hear how such a little thing that may have happened could make them happy or sad. Sometimes I don't think administrators see the value in being in touch with our students' feelings because they are focused on our lesson pacing and upcoming testing that they don't realize that getting to know them on a deeper level helps their desire to learn.
ReplyDeleteHi Lynn,
ReplyDeleteWe should be able to balance providing for their social emotional needs and academic demands. According to Hammond (2015) she suggest building that rapport through a learning partnership. The benefits of building a capacity to teach our students is at the core of what we do as teachers. Once we have established a relationship of trust, can we then push them academically.
I enjoyed this post very much. The levity in the images combined with true to life statements make this post relatable. I also believe in the message. We must get to know our students. The class today (3/4/23) revealed the truth, that what we harbor and our own views and opinions can affect the decisions we make regarding our students. I have come a long way as a teacher. I have learned that sharing myself is really good for the students. Yet my greatest lesson has been that valuing the students and celebrating who they are by giving them more voice is better. My pace is more thoughtful. My volume has also changed. I no longer expect students to adapt to my habits. I expect my personality to step back a bit to make more room for theirs. My question to you is how do we find ways to continue to incorporate SEL in the classroom in an ever increasing push of scripted lessons and demanding workloads?
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