Reflection Paper2

I think that as teachers we take the students we have and they are like fresh clay; they have no shape whatsoever; soon enough though we are molding them into beautiful sculptures. Even for unruly students, they might be tough to handle in the beginning but once the class moves forward they break away from being disruptive. I think as teachers it is our job to take our students from the very beginning and guide them to where they want to be. They cannot have everything left up to them to figure out and handle; teachers need to be next to them to assist whenever they are needed to give them that little push. All we as teachers really can do are to just urge them on and give them our full support and they will eventually break out of their shells. For example in speech classes there are always many students who are too shy to speak in front of a class and wait until the end before they have to present. By the time that class is mostly over some of those shy students will have blossomed into more courageous speakers less afraid than as they were in the very beginning. Students undergo their own transformations into who they want to be and break away from old habits, it takes time but they eventually are successful. Throughout a school year I think students change their minds multiple times about how they feel about certain things and how they act. I think it is a sign of maturation in their transformations from young adolescents to adults. Peers also help in the transformation of oneself. They not only look to teachers for advice but also their friends and classmates to advise them on what they should do. Experiences with other people from different backgrounds helps them to establish themselves as to just who they are and who they will become in the future. For the most part students learn on their own how to overcome inner obstacles and we as teachers try to keep them balanced and help them through their inner battles while they sort things out. This also helps them in their transformation because they are choosing for themselves what they want and how they want to do things which is all a part of being an adult.