Samantha Parsons Learning Tool Activity (Revised) 1a. What are the roles of teachers in society?

When thinking about teachers, it is hard to pinpoint one specific role they fulfill. I believe some people really underestimate amount of pressure teachers face every day. Teachers are to provide children with knowledge needed in order to succeed in life and develop well rounded individuals who will soon become contributing members of society. Also, teachers are looked to as a role model for children. We have to know that not every child has a positive influence in their life and sometimes, we are the only chance these students have to get anywhere in life. The goal of every teacher should be to instill a love of learning in all children. 1b. How does society view the role of teachers? Unfortunately for teachers, being an educator often comes with misconceptions and outrageous expectations. Society says teachers should be a parent, babysitter, role model, and friend all while teaching spelling, reading, and math. But if we fail in one area, we arent good teachers. What society doesnt realize is that we DO play many roles and that we are NOT perfect. All teachers can do is try to reach as many children as (s)he can and hope to make a difference in at least one child. The idea that teachers are overpaid and underworked is absolutely ridiculous and can only be said by someone who knows near nothing about the educational system. 2. What are some of the things teachers have to deal with? I think I touched on some issues teachers are faced with in the last question. Society can pose a problem for teachers, including the parents of the students. Good teachers dont simply walk into a classroom, open a book to read, and pass out worksheets for the children to do while she sits behind the desk. Teachers are faced with the task of getting to know each and every student on a deeper level in order to best accommodate their learning needs. Educators have to stay up-to-date on current strategies in order to better teach the students. There are so many levels of learners teachers have to understand and teach to all the while faced with the pressure of standardized testing requirements. As I said before, teachers are taken for granted every day. 3a. What do you believe is changing in todays education? The biggest change I can see is the need for using 21st century technology in the classroom. In todays world, children are doing basically everything with some form of technology. For that reason, it is important for educators to be able to teach using these technologies in order to better reach the children. They learn best when they are given information they can relate to and technology definitely fits that definition. Teachers today are faced with a lot of different options than teachers from 20 years ago and it is really a good thing. 3b. How will you deal with changes? One thing about teachers is their ability to be versatile. It is important to be able to roll with the punches, so to speak. If there are changes in strategies or the curriculum, you do not have much of a choice but to deal with it. The best way to deal with it is to re-evaluate your method and see if there is a more effective way to present the information. With this also come opportunities for professional growth and development. Changes in education are even more of a reason to attend workshops or other professional development opportunities.

4. Did you have a teacher who motivated you in some way? I still stand firm on my previous answer of my third/fourth grade teacher, Kathy Gibson, being my biggest inspiration. However, now that I have worked with teachers in the public school system, I

have realized that there are so many other wonderful teachers who have motivated me to be a better teacher. My placement in 316, which is the first class that requires you to teach a lesson, was at Scott Teays Elementary with Mrs. McCoy. She had such a wonderful demeanor and developed a reading program that the school now implements that is incredible. Knowing that teachers can have such an influence on an entire school really inspired me to step outside of the box and seek out different ways to teach. Secondly, I worked in my first kindergarten placement during the Fall 2013 semester for Reading 2 with Donna Harmon. Although I can now say that kindergarten is not an ideal grade level for me to teach, I was still extremely inspired my Mrs. Harmon. She and I differed so much in our personalities and teaching styles, but she opened my eyes to the differences between primary and secondary levels. She had such a beautiful spirit and love for her students and her obvious passion for teaching was so inspiring. I now know that there is more to someone being a motivation than just being a fun teacher.