Oftentimes when we hear discussions of goals with regard to education the conversation is about the goals of the educator. This is especially true when discussing primary education. The educator has a goal of enhancing student knowledge and imparting a certain amount of knowledge in students who, by law, are required to attend classes and submit to the education. These conversation often depict the young student as a passive entity in the education process. However, it is important to note that students have goals as well. This is made evident by the speech that Dalton Sherman gives in his video. He opens his speech by saying, “I believe in me. Di you believe in me?” I feel that this is a powerful quote which signified that student do have goals that they want to achieve with education and us as people entering the education profession need to believe in the student, their goals, and that they can meet their goals.
Dalton Sherman, a young student from the Charles Rice Learning Center, speaks very directly to those in the education field about the fact that he believes in himself and how important it is for them to believe in him and that he can achieve and be anything that he wants to be. He tries to instill in the minds of the audience that one of their jobs is to believe in the students. Sherman very clearly points out that students his age do have goals, although many of them may not have the confidence to vocalize them. I feel that one of the important jobs of an educator is to give students the confidence to vocalize and pursue their classroom goals. The article “Achievement Goals in the Classroom: Students’ Learning Strategies and Motivational Processes,” published in the Journal of Educational Psychology point out how students become motivated by meeting some of the goals they have set for themselves in the classroom, either mastery, performance, or both; when a student achieves a goal that he or she has set for education, this motivates the student to work harder and to try to meet other goals. Because of this phenomenon, I believe that it is very important for educators to try to assess and understand what the students’ goals are in education so that this can be used as a motivational tool to get students to actively participate in their education and perform to the best of their ability.
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"Understanding Student’s Goals From an Educator’s Prospective".
Dalton Sherman stated that because the educator believe in him that rubs off on him. He feels that educators need to believe in students regardless of their background. Furthermore, he claims that educators need to have the belief in themselves that they are important and effective to the students’ success. I feel that this is a very powerful speech because many times we think of students his age as people that we need to motivate to see the importance of education and set educational goals. He points out very clearly that he already sees the importance of education and has educational goals set for himself. As educators we need to believe that students like Sherman will set educational goals for themselves. Furthermore, we need to feel that we are forces that can help him and students like him achieve both their short term and long term educational goals.
Ranganathan point out that ‘Palmer’s The Courage to Teach” helps us as educators and others to understand that one of the things that is most needed in a quality educator is the characteristic of being truly present in the classroom and connecting with the students. This is one aspect of an educator that tends to dwindle over time as educators get wrapped up in their daily tasks making sure they cover all of the material in their lesson plan. After a number of years of teaching, not-so-high salaries, budget cuts, and students who seem not to be as ambitious as well dreamed they would be when we were fresh out of college, not focusing on connecting with the students can result in an educator who is physically present in the classroom but may as well be giving a prerecorded lecture. In my opinion as one who plans to enter the education profession, connecting with the students by asking what their goals are, getting them to set educational goals for themselves, and assisting in helping them meet their goals as well as the educators goals provides an active connection which will inspire students to be more engaged in the classroom.
Palmer’s book goes on to say that fear is one of the most crippling things in the classroom. Students fear failure and educators fear failing them. This is another area in which being in tune to the goals of the students can help the educator. I believe that understanding what the students’ goals are can help the educator address the students’ fears so that this crippling element of the classroom can be mitigated or eliminated.
