Writing Hope Question #4

 

How can you teach hope to others in your life? How can you be a “hope-creator” for others?

I think the best way to teach hope to others is by implementing hope into your own everyday life. Leading by example and being hopeful and optimistic in your own actions and expressions will lead those around you to want to do the same. You can also teach hope to others by giving positive feedback to those around you, showing and expressing encouraging words to the people in your life to make them feel like whatever they are trying to do is possible. Hope can be built by encouraging people to keep going and telling them you believe in them. I would teach hope by telling people that when they don’t believe they can do something then they are most likely going to be right. Half the battle to success is just believing that you can do it. It is so important to have hope in yourself and those around you in order to succeed. To be a hope-creator, I would always strive to say something positive before any negatives to build in the person’s mind that there is good within them or their actions even if there are things that might need fixing. You never want to crush anyone’s spirits completely, you want to help but constructively and while still praising the efforts put forth at the same time. On class assignments, I would balance out any negative feedback with spots of encouragement, pointing out, as well, the parts I really did like. I think hope can be created just by tone of voice and if we sound encouraging and hopeful then that can help build hope within our students as well. Hope and positivity are contagious; the more we put out there, the more we will see returned in those around us.

My top 5 strengths are curiosity, humor, social intelligence, zest, and gratitude. I would definitely agree with these results because these are characteristics I know I try to make prevalent in my every day. I try not to take life too seriously and I believe every day is a new opportunity to do something exciting or new. I believe that humor is the best medicine, I know I have a good read on what people around me are feeling, and I love discovering new things, new places or ideas and I believe in never taking for granted the life I get to live. I’m very happy to see these are my top five strengths because they are characteristics I strive to maintain throughout my life. I think these strengths will greatly benefit me in my teaching career. I think students succeed more when they feel their teacher cares and when they feel their teacher wants to connect with them. I think my humor and ability to try to bring enjoyment and fun into my classroom will benefit me as a teacher and will benefit my students as well, making them more excited to be there. I want them to want to be in class with me and not feel like it’s just an obligation. My curiosity in different things will help me be creative in building assignments. My social intelligence will help me read the room or know when certain students maybe aren’t doing so well or might just need someone to talk to or help them.

It’s pretty crazy to understand our brains function as more of a predictor for how we are supposed to respond to the world or moment around us. It’s hard to grasp because sometimes we feel emotions so heavily that we couldn’t possibly imagine we were building those feelings on our own due to sensors of prediction and what our brain is guessing for us to feel. This is a really cool concept to bring into a classroom because it can help students try to overcome and conquer those feelings of stress and anxiety when it comes to certain assignments. Like discussed in the TED talk, we could teach our students to understand that maybe that racing heartbeat and sweaty hands doesn’t have to mean anxiety about passing a test but could mean instead, readiness to take it on and beat the test. Students need motivation, they need self-confidence, and allowing them the opportunity to better predict triggering feelings and change them to motivation has potential to show incredible improvement. Students who thought they hated things like English or thought math was too hard could be shown that maybe their brain isn’t predicting a feeling of anger or confusion, but rather a feeling of competition and wanting to win against the equations, wanting to tackle the problems. Letting students potentially alter their own point of views about learning sounds like one of the greatest beneficial tools we could offer them because it will change the way they try to process and think about new tasks and education beyond just their time in our classroom.

Sonia Nieto’s talk “On Becoming Sociocultural Mediators” opened my eyes to a lot of new ideas. While we all can just about agree on the importance of culture and the ways it shapes us, I thought she approached the concept in a different way that really made an impact on my understanding of how to use it and help teach. I loved the way she said to learn your own values and explore your own privilege, followed by the idea of getting out into the neighborhood where you teach and learn more about their lives, explore the values of that area, the privilege or lack thereof in the area you will be teaching in. I think it is important, as an educator, to know where I, myself, stand and how my own personal experiences are going to vary from experiences of my students, in different ways for different students. Culture is an everyday basis and it is important to incorporate it into the everyday and not just diversity weeks or holiday celebrations. As I teach I know that I have to keep culture in mind and actively learn more about my students. I can’t just expect a generic student because generic students don’t exist, all are different. I need to teach in the mindset that every student will be unique. Now that I know and have listened to the importance of culture and the differences it will always put on different students, I know I have to be more aware of the constant effect culture will have and be adamant on never allowing myself to become content in thinking I know how every student will react or respond to something. Affirm your students, connect with them, and show you want to know who they are, not just as a student, but as a person.

When I think of why I want to be a teacher the first thing that comes to mind is the teachers I had that showed me I was worth so much more than I once thought I was. I think of the teachers that were more like mentors and believed in me at a time I didn’t even have that belief in myself. I always enjoyed reading and writing and listening to poetry, and so, English was always an easy decision for my major. However, I wasn’t always sure what I wanted to do with it until I really started to look back on my life and thought about who helped me get where I am today. Of course, family and friends were a huge part of this, but then there’s the teachers, 1 in particular, who really helped push me and saw the potential in me even as a messed-up teenager. The reason I want to be a teacher is simple: because I want to be that teacher to my students. I want to teach them more than just literature, I want to teach them to believe in themselves, to shoot for the moon, and to never give up on their dreams or themselves. I want to show them the power of writing and the lessons that can be learned in books way past the content that would be on a test. School is such a huge part of a child’s life, so much of their time is spent in the classroom, in those halls, and it is important that it be a positive experience with more being learned than just the material in textbooks. If I can be a positive impact on a student in the ways my teachers were for me than I would consider myself having done a good job in my career. I want to inspire, push, and make my students comfortable and help push them in a direction to the future they deserve.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton