Teach Now (Teacher Certification): Reflection Activity: My Biggest Fear

Module 4 Unit 5 Activity 3

Reflection Activity: My Biggest Fear

I have always been an organized person and as an educator this has been one of my key strengths. I always have a routine for my students to follow, and all of my classes run relatively smoothly most of the time. I had to learn a lot by trial and error, and I really love to connect with my students. I have a performing background and I think it is so important to make each lesson relatable, but also interesting. I instill my own form of “edu-tainment” for my students. Everything I try to teach, no matter how boring the subject matter is, can be made interesting to them when I put my effort to do so. The first objective is to learn, and the second is for them to relate to it, or find it interesting.

 One of the biggest fears I have as a teacher perhaps has to deal with a class or students that are physically violent. I have only taught in South Korea for 10 years and the students here are mostly respectful. Most of the problems I have with students here, is getting them to participate, but I have found my own successful ways to target no-participating classes, in an amusing way. I have never had to deal with anyone who was physically abusive or aggressive towards me. In case of a situation like that, I would think that I’d like to deal with it in a constructive way but if I was in physical danger, I don’t actually know how I would react.

I have had one situation in the 10 years of teaching, where a student actually stood up to me, and was verbally abusive. He was very close to my personal space and it seemed like he wanted to be physically aggressive. At this moment, I could not ignore this situation, or just walk away. I told him to leave, and I would have liked to talk to him afterwards, but in Korea, confrontation is one of the biggest fears  among this culture. I got a call from the head of his department to be the communicator between us. After I explained the situation, the professor requested I give him one more chance to come back into my class. I agreed, but this student never came back. This was no surprise to me as I have had students that chose to fail my class instead of facing me about their grades, behavior, or other problems (even small ones) in class.

Another fear I have is perhaps time management if I have a student with a severe disability in my classroom. I care equally for all my students and I haven’t had any students with disabilities in my classes so far. I am scared that if I do, I might have difficulty following my routine and either spend too much or too little time with those students neglecting the rest of the class, or that single student.

I am sure as I move to different countries to teach, I will have to face new situations and adapt to different cultures and people. I am actually excited and positive about new environments and new students. Experiencing difficult situations will only make me a better-rounded educator and I’d like to be optimistic thinking that I can manage a learning environment in a constructive way. My students and their learning is the most important thing to me, so failing them as a teacher will have to top my list of fears as an educator!