Ah-Hah Moments - TCH 130

One quote that really made me think was from Living, Loving, and Learning. The quote reads, “But you see the brilliance, the beauty, the promise of youth. You are willing to be dazzled. You have drawn your line in the sand. You have staked your claim. With your one wild and precious life, you have decided to LIVE, LOVE, and LEAD in the middle level grades.” This quote really stuck out to me because I often don’t really have a response when people say “wow middle school.” I often don’t know what to say, and I don’t know if my reasoning would be good enough to explain why I do it. I often get a “do you hate yourself?” but honestly, I am really happy to be teaching middle level. I had a really hard time trying to decide what age I wanted to teach, but once I actually experienced it, I knew. I had an internship my senior year and went into a fourth grade classroom and knew middle level was what I wanted to do. The next quote I really liked is from This Successful Middle School. The quote reads, “Middle grades teachers’ relationships with students have a profound impact on young adolescents’ sense of belonging in school. Positive student-teacher relationships are created when students feel valued, respected, cared for, encouraged, and listened to by their teachers.” This quote really stuck out to me because I hope to someday have such an impact on my students that they feel valued, respected, cared for, encouraged, and listened to. I feel that this creates a better learning environment, because when you don’t feel like you are listened to, you don’t want to listen. My last quote is from What Every Middle School Teacher Should Know. The quote reads, “Teaching middle level is about relationships. The curricula take a back seat to their lives. What’s ever on their minds is what teachers must respond to at that moment. Their emotions area giant shield that gets in the way of the curriculum. The task of the middle school teacher is to develop the middle school child.” This quote also stuck out to me because I had middle school teachers that had a huge impact on me because of the relationship we had. I felt I could trust my teachers and they helped me a lot. I can remember some of the academic ideas that I was taught, but none stick out as much as what I learned about myself in that time.