When I think about teaching I can’t help but think of a bowl of soup. As a preservice teacher you hear of all the tasks and traits and dispositions that are required of teachers. Those are a whole lot of ingredients that each teacher has to bring to the pot if they want to be successful.
When looking back at my time in PK-12 I can really think of all the things that I would want to bring to the classroom if I choose to teach. The first big idea I would want in my classroom would be that I should never think of myself as above the student. Yes, I am there to facilitate learning but that doesn’t mean I cannot learn from them. I would also want my classroom to be a place of facilitation. I want my students to be engaged and I would change my lesson plans and teaching style to keep them engaged. It is all about their learning and in the long run if my students are not learning from being engaged I don’t believe I am doing my job right. I want to care for my future students. They are all people too and I feel like that is something that some teachers forget about. Students are people that are trying to learn the ways of the world, and so they deserve to be treated like respect.
Teaching is like a soup. If a teacher just skates by and does the bare minimum the soup will probably taste a little more like soap. On the other hand, a teacher who cares, excites, and talks to the class in a professional manner could have an award winning soup on their hands. So the real question is that if I were to be a teacher, would I want to be stirring water in a pot, or be a chopped level master chef?
Liam Kerr's Educational History 