Talking about vulnerabilities in class was eye-opening. My top concern is not having my own children. I have always felt that this has put me at a disadvantage. I thought that it would give a better experience with understanding child development and relating to kids (even though I have never had any problems interacting with children). However, my group brought up a good point. By not having my own kids, I have a fresh slate. I won’t be tempted to talk or treat my student’s like I would my own children. They saw my vulnerability as a positive. It was also interesting to hear the vulnerabilities of others in my group. We all have our own insecurities and it was beneficial to talk about them.
I realized that I definitely need to think about how to respond to students who are having strong emotions. Besides trying to defuse the situation and talk to the student, or have them take a 10-count, the number of strategies I have to draw upon is low. What would be a good resource to get information from?
At this point, while I’m not in the moment, I think I could probably teach most challenging subject without an issue. Being a scientist, I tend to fall back onto the facts. I would need to find credible resources to give me confidence in what I am teaching. My one concern would be with answering questions. I worry that I would give too much information or inappropriate information for the age of the student. I work in an area that deals with some tough circumstances. Sometimes I think I am a little too desensitized to things that would bother everyone else and not aware enough of other peoples sensitivities.
I really appreciated having time to work on the visual field trip. It gave us a great start on the project.