Reflection 4

     Capture:

     This week I want to talk about how we view ourselves as individuals and teachers and the role that our perception plays in deciding the kind of individual and teacher we will be and become. 

     Analysis:

      As we go through life we have all sorts of experiences. Good, bad, ugly, all of these experiences lead us to create beliefs about the world, ourselves, and those around us. Those beliefs become the lenses or paradigms through which we view our current life experiences. As we built up our "belief lense", if we're not careful, we can discolor the world around us through untrue or negative beliefs about ourselves or others. For example, if we believe that we are miserable, we will be most likely be miserable. We will look for ways in which we can justify our belief. Negative beliefs about ourselves and others can be particularly problematic when we apply it to classroom situations. If we as teachers believe that our students don't have potential, and wont succeed, we'll teach to and look for ways to justify those beliefs about our students. Those beliefs are transmitted to students as expectations and they will perform accordingly. The opposite is true if we feel positively about ourselves and our students. Ultimately the way we view others comes down to how we view ourselves.  

    Action:

       I will view myself as a child of God or, in school terms, someone with infinite potential and create an environment where my students can come to have a firm belief that they too have infinite potential as contributors to the world.