I just want to say that I learned a lot about myself today in class. When Dr. Turner said, "We all have that brittle spot where we know we're right even though we may be wrong," (or something to that extent) I completely agreed. I thought this is exactly how I am, and it's good that someone has the guts to recognize that. Even though it's hard to admit, we do not like to be wrong. This relates to teaching profoundly. After one student's example of how a professor was unfair to them after she told him/her she was correct, I thought, "I would never do that to someone!" I agree that instead of getting "harder" on someone who has proved of wrong, we should get "softer" with them. What great things and ideas we could learn and share with this person! If we would only be respectful, cautious of our emotions, and open to learning more, then we could create a community of learning. When I do not know something, I ask. I believe asking questions is one of the best ways to learn. Are we as teachers going to prohibit asking questions just because we are afraid of someone proving us wrong? I certainly hope not! I love getting asked questions because it is a challenge and helps me learn more about myself and others. Even if you do not agree with someone's opinion, you can engage in a healthy conversation that will at least help you strengthen your own opinion. I also really liked the comment made that instead of just saying, "No" when a student asks a question that is wrong, we should ask them to prove how they believe it is right. I will definitely use this in the classroom as an evaluation learning process. The teachers that were most successful in teaching me academically and socially were the teachers that actually listened. I knew they cared about me and wanted to help me sort things out. When proven wrong, we do not need to take it out on our students. This will only hinder the learning, thinking, and asking process which is vital to learning and growing as an individual (which will only strengthen the human condition). We need to be honest with ourselves. I am just wondering how honest people are with themselves and in what ways or not?

I think that this is a excellent question. As educators we must be honest not only with our peers and our students, but also with ourselves. We always have to question our actions to see if we are being fair to those around us. We must have the ability to step back and question yourself and and to be honest if we are to be fair to those around us.

Today I told the story of my Professor that after talking with them, they where very unfair to me the rest of the semester. However, I did not tell about how this past summer while I was at home I ran into this professor at a bookstore, rather my boyfriend ran into them. This Professor had been my boyfriend’s advisor while he was a student at ASU, and he has a great deal of respect for them. When I walked around the corner though the professor excused himself very quickly from their conversation; yet they took care to avoid me, while still taking the time to talk with my boyfriend.
It blows my mind! I asked one question!
I never went to their office with the intention to prove him wrong, and I don’t believe that I was rude at any point in time while I was in their office that day. If I had known what would have been the result of me asking about one tiny detail, I never would have brought it up. To think, I had studied this topic before and I was hoping this was some new aspect that I had missed. It does anger me when I think about the treatment I have received. But what really angers me the most is that I do not even remember the question.
In the end though I am taking away an experience that I will never forget, and one I will never want to impose on one of my students. If anything it makes me want to be more transparent to those around me. I mean I want my students and peers to know that when they ask me something I am willing to help research the topic with them, as well as grow with them. I never want myself to get in the way of someone’s education.

I wanted to comment on something Heather said, that is truly something I feel goes to core of what I hope to be as a teacher.

"The teachers that were most successful in teaching me academically and socially were the teachers that actually listened. I knew they cared about me and wanted to help me sort things out."

If I have learned one thing during my years in college, it is that this is true. During my work with Duke TIP this summer, I experience working with a lot of "teachers" who didn't listen to students and were just doing a summer job for a little extra money. Before this summer I probably would have shrugged those people off that I felt didn't care to listen to the students, but through that experience I learned that so much of being a teacher is listening to and learning from your students. Since my days with TIP I have become what most would probably consider too passionate about this issue, but it is one of my brittle spots, and I'm just not quite ready to take a deep breath and and look at it from a different perspective yet.

I agree with what Heather stated and what Dr. Turner said in class instead of getting harder on a student I would like to be softer with them. But then also I understood the fact of there are some days that you have tried your hardest to hear a student's opinion/problem and you try and help them but they still do not understand, and your patience has gotten to a minimum. One of the things that struck me yesterday was the question of " How do we decide what to do and how can we make the right choice and know in our heads that it was right"? I think that i may struggle with this because what i view to be right may not necessarily be true or right in other's opinions. I do know that i feel strongly about when a student questions why i did something a certain way or an answer that i give i would like to say that i would hear them out. Every student deserves the right to be heard and even if they are wrong it still shows them respect because you are hearing where they are coming from, and hopefully by showing that you are listening to them and valuing their opinion then you may be able to get more of their respect. I enjoyed the discussion in class yesterday, it really opened me up to what other people think and i was able to understand why they would handle things a certain way.

We all would like to say that we will be fair to the students we will teach down the road, but no one knows for sure how they will act until put in that situation. We can all visualize what we think the type of teacher we will be, but won't know for sure until we are teaching. We can try and say "oh no that will never be me, i'll never teach that way" and then one day some student pushes one of your buttons and boom you become the teacher you always said that you wouldn't. What do you do then?

There have been multiple times that someone has said either on the blog or in class "But what would you really do? We can all say we...[insert best answer here]...but we don't know how we would act unless we were in the situation." Well of course we don't know the specific acts we would take in any situation until we're there! I acknowledge this and understand the thinking behind it, as well as validate the statement. However, I think the purpose of discussing hard issues and trying to place what your ideal response would be to a situation is to gain a better understanding of yourself and your own ideals at the time. If we don't think about and talk about how we would hypothetically deal with a situation, what the heck are you going to do when it comes up and you've never even thought about it before? I don't think stating that we would react to something in a certain way ever writes it in stone, however it does jumpstart the process of thinking and evaluating your emotions on that subject, that can later on hopefully help you make the right decision when you do come in contact with a hard situation.

Anyone who is going to teach a class at any point in their life needs a reality check if they think they will never be wrong because they are the teacher. What needs to happen is people should realize (students and teachers) that we are human and everyone makes mistakes. All of us are going to make a mistake or just say something totally wrong at some point its just a matter of time. Its at this point we need to swallow our pride and accept the fact and make the correction... then get on with our lives. Nothing irritates or has irritated me more than when a teacher or professor puts his/herself on a pedestal and talks down to the student. It seems to me that all would be better and learning could take place if pride was set aside at times like this.

I really agree with you here Clay. I too get upset when a teacher or professor talks down to the students. Especially, while studying education and learning how to become a teacher. When being taught how to teach, it is frustrating when professors believe it is there way or no way. I am a big believer in there being several ways of being an effective teacher, and therefore do not think it is fair to be graded on being forced to teach based on certain criteria of the professor. Who is to say that my way of going about a lesson will not be just as affective as yours? Isn't the main purpose behind teaching is student learning, and if student learning is taking place then why do I have to change my ways.
On the other hand, I do understand that a lot of times professors are just trying to reach out and give us useful techniques and skills. I just don't see the need to take it to the extreme lengths that some do.
Have any of you experienced this?

Something that Katie put caught my attention, something about how the way that she presents a lesson is just a good as the way someone else would (or on the same lines as those). This just caught my attention because of an experience I had in High School. I worked a problem in math and I was able to come up with the correct answer but my way of going about this was completely different than the way that the teacher explained it and showed us how to do in class. I personally did not like the way that my teacher explained it so I figured out a different way. My teacher gave me only partial credit on the assignment because, even though I had the correct answer, I did not do it the same way that was explained. I then had to show that my way of doing the problem was just as good as the way that s/he did by using it on different problems. S/he still only gave me partial credit and told me to stick to the way that s/he was teaching. This really bugged me but me being who I am, obeyed. I did not like being told that I should not learn different ways of doing certain things. This is why I "believe" that I will not act the same way that my teacher did to my students. I put "believe" instead of "know" because that really is something that I do not know... I could change completely and become that same teacher... but I do not plan on this...