Throughout my school career I have met a lot of educators who have made an impact on my education. From professors I just met five months ago, to teachers I had even when I was in the 8th grade. Educators are a huge asset to the school system and their role cannot be matched.
There are some teachers that you just connect with. You talk to them outside of class, you see them in the hall and go over and ask how their day was, small things like that. One teacher I had when I was a freshman made an impact on me. Her name was Mrs. Pugh and it was her first year teaching when I was a freshman, so we both were new to the high school. She was my American government teacher, and while I didn’t like any form of history classes at all (never have, never will), she made the hour and a half worth it. She made classes interesting and fun, while still being able to understand the context. One thing that I would suggest the school system changing is to stop putting as much restrictions on everything. A lot of teachers have to take some of the “fun” ways to learn away so that students have to learn to understand it themselves.
Mrs. Pugh became my advisor for our class when I was a senior so I was able to connect with her even more now as we always met to talk about prom and graduation, etc. One thing that was always “looked down on” was interaction with students outside of school or schooling events. I believe that if someone was old enough, like I was for instance, then the interaction would be ok. I was a senior in high school, so I was 18 years old. I don’t understand why if someone wants to be face book friends with someone for instance, how that’s a problem.
Despite those little problems, Mrs. Pugh was someone I could go to for advice on schoolwork, ask how her day was for just small conversations, or even just to tell her about my lacrosse game I had the previous night. Teachers impacts on students are a big role when it comes to not only knowing how smart you are or how confident you may be, but also knowing they are also human, and one of your new friends.
AlexisPattersonBlog 
Hi Alexis! I felt the same way about some of my teachers in high school as well! I was able to confide in them and I felt they appreciated when we would get time to talk about our lives. We are with our teachers for so much of the day that we have this trust like some do with their parents. My teachers were always there to support at sporting events and other school-related functions. I sort of understand the restrictions that schools put on teachers because of the risk of inappropriate behavior between students and teachers, but I do think the Facebook rule is silly. I do think that the relationship between you and your teacher is essential for your learning environment. You do not have to be best friends, but having some sort of connection with your teacher helps with learning the material and being more comfortable asking for help if you are having issues with the content. I think in order to improve our learning environment we should have teachers with us longer. We should have teachers with us for longer than one or two years. It can be difficult to develop a good relationship with a new teacher every year when you are so comfortable with another. Some students may also not have encouragement about their grades and their education and having a teacher who only wants you to succeed can be a huge difference in a child’s life. All students learn differently as well and having the same teacher who knows how you learn can be a huge help.
LikeLike
Hi Alexis! I completely agree with you that teachers truly do impact children’s lives throughout their entire school career, from preschool through college. I enjoyed reading about the effect that Mrs. Pugh had on you, and completely agree with you about schools allowing teachers to have more opportunities for fun activities in their classes. The teacher is obviously interested in the subject they are teaching, therefore giving them more freedom would make class more enjoyable for everyone. Also, a child is more likely to remember a class that they had fun in rather than one where they stared at the clock until it was time to leave. I feel like everyone has at least one teacher like Mrs. Pugh in their life who they connected with, for me that was my physics teacher Mr. Daugherty. Educators teach students much more than random information they help them to form better social skills, they feed creative thinking, and so much more.
LikeLike
I really like that you were able to share about a teacher that really impacted you. It is really important for teachers to connect with their students so they are able to do well in the class to the best of their abilities. You mentioned the fact of not being able to be “friends” with a teacher outside of school. My mom is a teacher so I know why that is looked down on in school systems. Especially with student-teacher relations, schools really try to limit relationships outside of school. Being that my mom is a teacher, I have been so lucky to have teachers that I didn’t even have be a big influence in my life. As for the schools taking the fun out of class, it really is not a good thing because those fun things can be the best way children can learn. But departments of education are so worried about getting good test scores that they only teach what is needed for those. Which could work, but also causes children and teachers to not enjoy being at school. I really liked reading about how that teacher made an impact on your life and I hope you have someone who is there for you whenever you need it!
LikeLike
Hi Alexis, I definitely agree with you about teachers’ interactions with their students being too restrictive in the United States. I feel like students performance in school would increase if they were allowed to form bonds with their teachers that are not limited to just formal interactions. When I was in third grade, I had a history teacher that I got really close with and she would always after school talk to me about the material we learnt in class, because I love history, and this relationship caused me to be very good and strong in history. Even after I went up to higher grades she would sometimes help me with history projects in her office. All this was allowed only because I grew up outside the United States. If I grew up in the United States, the chances of me getting very close with my teachers in middle school, who I am still in contact with, would not be very low. I definitely benefitted from these relationships because looking back, I noticed that my strongest subjects that happened to be my strongest were the ones where I had very friendly teachers when I was a kid.
LikeLike