Something to Think About! How Do You See Your Students?

I finally picked back up the book, The Courage to Teach by Parker J. Palmer. As I began reading chapter 2 this evening I came across several profound statements within the text. This chapter talks  about the fear that lives within education. 

The first profound statement reads as following: 

"the way we diagnose our student's condition will determine the kind of remedy we offer" (Palmer, p. 41). 

This reminded me of  how as teacher we have the capacity to facilitate or destroy learning for our students. Often we get stuck on how students come to us, not realizing that this is not what matters. What matters is how they leave us. We have the control to see our students as human beings who have the potential to do great things, despite how they came to us. 

The other profound statement reads as following: 

"A good teacher is one who can listen to those voices even before they are spoken-so that someday they can speak with truth and confidence" (Palmer, p. 46). 

This sentence truly embodies how teachers should treat their students and what it means to call yourself a teacher. It is so important that teachers see their students more than bodies sitting in seats, but a human beings who may one day do great things. All too often teachers fail to understand the students that come into their classroom and often compare them to students of the past. No class is the same, no student is either. We must look at each with open eyes and be willing to be the change agent that will ensure students receive the education they deserve.