As this semester comes to a close and I begin to reflect on what I've seen and heard, I realize that my experience teacher assisting has really helped form what ideals I think should be held in the classroom. Many of my students this semester held a very closed mindset in terms of mathematics, and the vast majority of them had no desire to learn. The students who did well in the class were students who still blindly followed instructions, without any care about what was actually being taught. Seeing this and learning about other mindsets that these students held made me curious about what was causing this and what could possibly be done to change it.
One of the things we have talked about this semester is creating autonomy in students. This means helping students to feel that they are competent in their ability to discover and make connections on their own. It means decentering yourself as the teacher in the classroom and recognizing that your students are capable of teaching as well. Thinking about this description of autonomy, I discovered that these students have been taught in such a way that discourages any sort of exploration or coming to conclusions on one's own. These students have been conditioned to copy notes from the board, previously written by the teacher to save time, and have learned that studying is only worth it if completing the study guide means that they have something to copy off of for the test.
These are only a couple of the problems that I have found within my teacher assisting semester, but it has been enough to concern me about sending these students on their way to the next grades. We as teachers are supposed to prepare these students for real-world life, but one of the biggest things we are preventing our students from discovering is how to be problem solvers. And this is a very necessary real-world application. Moving away from a system that students are used to and have learned from for so long is a difficult task to tackle, but I think it's important for us to address the needs of our students and teach in such a way that promotes student autonomy and promotes the ability to be problem solvers and apply knowledge to their real world. While my time with these students is coming to an end and I have limited access to make big changes for them, I am excited about the opportunities I will have next semester while student teaching, and I am ready to do whatever I can to make my students confident, competent problem solvers.
