Watching the Rafe video this week made me realize just how much responsibility we (educators) have in the classroom. I was relieved, yet personally startled, when Rafe described the code of responsibility he placed upon his students. I thought, how simple to make them accountable for their own destiny! But for some reason it all came crashing down on me and I had this overwhelming sense of anxiety about how much we have to accomplish- academically, socially, emotionally, morally... It made me think, what is a teacher's primary responsibility in the classroom? Below is a list of answers I received after reaching out to my peers. What do you think?
To educate
To inspire!
To encourage
Differentiated instruction
To increase achievement (academic and emotional)
To develop a person's character
Making sure they stay motivated to learn
To become obsolete
To make them think
Give them a secure and supportive environment
Success without discrimination
Teach values and ethics
To develop good human nature inside them
To show them right and wrong
Btw, I was amazed to see that a handful of comments related to morality. It made me think that Rafe's method of using Kohlberg's stages of moral development really can be effective and valuable in practice. I look forward to experimenting with this in my own classroom someday.
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ReplyDeleteTo cultivate empathy
To make it worth their valuable time
I think I like the "encourage" and "become obsolete" - how about to empower, to guide, to enlighten students to their own potential, etc?
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