Teaching and Learning: Respect and Perceptions

During yesterday's seminar (6/11/12), I had the opportunity to think about my time in this program and my future role as a teacher differently than I have in the last few months. Our discussion about how we develop perceptions about people, and how those perceptions can lead to biases, reminded me that this occurs all the time. We may hear someone say something negative or positive about a person that implants an idea or perception about that person in our minds. We then approach interactions with that person that are informed by these implanted perceptions. Sometimes the way we treat a person can produce the very behavior that we unfairly expected. This can lead to a cycle of misunderstandings and misinterpretations that limits the kinds of interactions we have with the person. This leads to nowhere good.

As an emerging teacher, this is particularly important. I want to start each school year by giving each child a clean slate, regardless of what I might have heard from previous teachers or other school staff. I can see now how critical this is to giving each child the opportunity to have a productive year in your classroom. I experienced being in a class run by a teacher who decided she did not like me the moment she met me. It was an unpleasant experience, and it is not something I would ever want to do to any student who walks into my classroom.

The discussion on respect seemed to stir up unresolved issues within the cohort. It was good to hear what people think about showing and being shown respect. We are a group of unique individuals who have entered this program with our own sets of life experiences that contribute to how we view this idea of respect. I think we have reached a point where we all want to be conscious of everyone else's feelings and how they want to be treated. Having respect for one another is imperative if we are going to make it through this program as a cohesive unit.