American Teacher

Initially, after watching "American Teacher" I felt very depressed and disheartened. It made me have a worse view of the profession because all of the teachers being interviewed had so many obstacles to face day in and day out. The biggest frustration that teachers had was that they didn't get enough pay to afford the supplies they need and support their families adequately. They had to spend so much time outside of class that it often took negative tolls on their family too. However, many times an increase in pay is not an option for districts, so they could improve conditions by merely paying for standard classroom supplies or give teachers an extra conference period.

-this is the website that gives more details about "American Teacher"

Why Do Students Procrastinate?

According to this article, this a reason why students procrastinate:

• Unrealistic Expectations and Perfectionism. You may believe that you MUST read everything ever written on a subject before you can begin to write your paper. You may think that you haven't done the best you possibly could do, so it's not good enough to hand in.

This pertains to me because I often doubt my abilities to finish an essay that satisfies by teacher's expectations. I am not confident in my writing skills, so I feel intimidated to turn papers in. This causes me to spend hours on simple papers to try to make them perfect. I never want to start this arduous task so that is why I delay on starting essays.

The article also suggested how to overcome procrastination:

• Recognize self-defeating problems such as; fear and anxiety, difficulty concentrating, poor time management, indecisiveness and perfectionism.

In order to overcome my problem of procrastination, I will mentally prepare myself before I start my essays. I will think about my previous grades on essays and realize that I can do well in writing. This will give me motivation to start on my papers so I won't procrastinate.

If I Could Change Education, I Would...

If I could change education I would make it less "factory-like" and more specialized to each student and his or her learning style. Since each student has different multiple intelligences, it is destructive to assume that each student should conform to one way of learning. I would also hold each teacher accountable for preparing their students for the next grade level. If students are adequately prepared for consecutive years, then they will continue to be challenged and not fall behind. Also, I would make teachers have higher expectations of their students. If students never have a teacher that expects them to do work outside of school, then they will never form a good work ethic and prosper.

A really informative movie that discusses the problems in education, and offers solutions is Waiting for Superman.

This blog was inspired by this video