September 23 Assignment: Authenticity

Authenticity, it’s really something that is difficult to fake.  It’s possible, but generally not a good idea.  In the classroom I believe that it’s important for the students to know that you really do care about them and want them to succeed, because I know, from being in school (college now, and high school not so long ago) that sometimes it really doesn’t feel like a teacher cares wether or not you do well in their class.  But the classes where you can see it, where you can tell how much that teacher really wants you to understand and get what they are teaching you? Those are the classes that you get the most out of, that you actually do learn because the teacher cares enough to make sure that you know what you need to know.  There are some boundaries though, authenticity in your teaching is great, but your relationship with students still needs to remain professional, which I could go on about saying that “this” is okay in this situation but “this” is not okay in this situation, but that’s the thing, it’s all situational, and those situations are generally ones that can’t be planned for, they just happen and you need to know enough, to have the common sense, to do the right thing when you face something that you can’t refer to a textbook about. Autenticity is great, and needed in a classroom for students to be able to take a teacher seriously.  But common sense, and knowing when something is overstepping a boundary, is also something that a teacher needs to have.