Blog Number 5

March 25, 2015 What do you think is the most challenging role a teacher plays? Why?

The biggest thing that I have gotten out of this last module and everything we have talked about this last month is how you always need to make sure everyone feels included. That the students won't feel left out and that they are all on the same track with NCLB. This I feel is the hardest and most challenging thing for teachers because it puts so much pressure on them to always be testing and always having to see where their students are. It gives so much extra pressure on the teacher. They always feel like they have to be making sure all their kids are on the same level, and if they aren't a lot of teachers feel as though they failed as a teacher for the whole class, not just the student who is at a lower level than the other students. 

In my last couple of weeks in my second grade classroom, I have actually seen this. The teacher I work with, I love her so much. She is an amazing teacher, but she is so stressed about all of the tests and extra things she has to do to keep her students on the same level. I have seen it first hand not just in her classroom, but in my mom's classroom as well. Students all are going to learn at different paces. They are not all going to understand the same subject at the same time. And it isn't always a reflection on the teacher. Some students just have a harder time understanding the subjects. I have seen teachers beat themselves up over the fact that a student in their class isn't understanding it. But they sometimes can't do anything to change that. 

I know that when I am finally a teacher, I will probably do the same thing. But it is nice knowing now that it won't be my fault if they don't always get it. Sometimes, you do so much for someone and they still don't get it and there isn't anything else you can do about it. I personally think that NCLB is a little too harsh because all I have seen it do is work the teachers even more than they should be. So many extra tests and things to do. It is too much at times.