Learning and Teaching with Preschoolers Blog

Bring yourself to the Learning Process Day 11

8/4/2016

Day Eleven

“As I teach, I project the condition of my soul onto my students, my subject, and our way of being together.”
― Parker J. Palmer, The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life

In today’s world of education sometimes bringing ourselves to the learning process is hard, because we bring the pressure of accountability to our teaching.

Are you bringing yourself to the teaching process?

I use to feel like I was teaching in a fog and the storm could hit at any moment.
At the end of the day I was not sure if I connected to those around me. I wondered would my students go home and tell their families what they did at school for the day.

I knew that I had good parts, but after the storm of teaching, finding those golden nuggets was a hard thing to do. I knew that I needed to bring more of myself to the learning process so that I could connect with my students.

I also knew that this was not going to happen overnight. I had to conquer one storm cloud at a time, by implementing teaching habits that would insure that I was bringing myself to the learning process.

At the end of a long day do you feel like you have connected with your students?

I brought myself to the learning process by creating a teacher habit checklist that will help me to stay in the moment and out of the storm.

Did I…

greet students and families by name?
greet challenging children by name and tell them that I was glad to see them?
welcome co-workers with a smile and a “Hello”?
involve myself in play?
laugh with my students?
sing and dance with my students?
bring something new to the teaching process today?
involve the whole group in a learning process?
seek the child’s point of view?
notice details in the children’s work to discover more possibilities?
share conversations following children’s interest?

When you stay mindful and act with your values and goals in mind, you become a powerful mediator of children’s learning.

. Learning Together with Young Children

Task:
Use the Mindful Teachers Checklist to see where you are with bringing yourself to the teaching process.
Next pick one that you will start implementing in your classroom tomorrow.