Last summer I read a book about transformational teaching and it truly opened my eyes to why I become so frustrated with other educators. I agree with the authors almost 100% about why and how we teach students; however, there are several teachers I have encountered in my short career that probably would not agree with the principles discussed throughout the book, Transformational Teaching by Rosebrough and Leverett.
For those of you reading who are unfamiliar with transformational teaching, it is basically the why and how we teach- to transform the whole student. Contrary to transforming students is the common practice of feeding them information so that they can regurgitate their knowledge on a test. Transformational teaching involves teaching problem solving skills and identifying areas of strength and weakness in each student in order to challenge them to become the best they can be.
I always dreamed of being a transformational teacher- a person who touches the lives of others. Unfortunately, I feel as though I have gotten away from doing just that. In the book the authors mention that teachers can only control 14% of the factors that affect whether a student learns or not. Throughout the past two years I have been extremely frustrated with a lack of resources, which I felt had been holding back my ability to meet individual needs of students, as well as the attitudes of others in my building. The resources I speak of could be anything from a table with chairs to technology. While the attitudes of some of the fellow teacher are that of if a student does not understand a concept the first time they haven't tried hard enough. All of which I have realized this year as simple excuses. Transformational teaching doesn't need any of these things.
If I become an administrator or are viewed as a leader, as I aim to some day become, I hope that I can inspire teachers to become transformational and change the lives of the students in the building.
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