Reflection 1

For class, we've been reading The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher by Harry K. Wong. This book has been thought provoking as I've been reading it. One thing that I enjoyed most was the importance of a teachers expectations. It is up to the teacher how much the student learns. The student will learn as little or as much as the teacher expects. This makes me think back to Miss Parker, my senior English teacher. She had high expectations for me and wanted me to succeed and do well. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was because of her high expectations that I worked so hard on my papers for her class. She had a certain bar that she wanted so I had to work hard to achieve that level. It was hard work, but I remember at the end I felt accomplished and like I had actually reached something and had become better.

It is easy to think you do as well or not so well as you personally expect. In reality, the teacher plays a big role in this . Miss Parker had high expectations, thus I worked hard to achieve the high academic performance that she wanted. She expected me to do well and at the same time made me feel that I could do well. She did not change my ways of thinking but instead changed the way I felt about how I could write. I felt I could do better because of her, thus I did better. The expectations and support from the teacher are crucial to each individual student's learning.

As a teacher, I want to be as Miss Parker and make clear my expectations of my students. I want to encourage them and make them feel too that they can do well. My expectations will play a large role in determining my students' academic performance.