Journal of Scholastic Inquiry: Education
Volume 9, Page 26
always have an interpreter either there (in the meeting) or over the phone and to not use the child as an interpreter because sometimes things get lost in translation if the student is interpreting. We always stress that we use a professional interpreter when working with parents and legal documents and things like that. I think it helps the parent feel more comfortable that we are just speaking about them the whole time, but we are trying to incorporate them more into the student’s individual IEP.” Empathy. Every participant displayed a unique sense of empathy. There seems to be a genuine willingness to do whatever it takes to meet the needs of the student. Teachers persevere through the tough times and tough children and provide a safe place to learn.
Ellie speaks about how to work your way through some of the difficulties associated with teaching. “I think that this last part of my teaching career has been the hardest because there are so many different entities that have their fingers in education and because we are so standards based and we are looking at testing so critically. I think that as a teacher you have to be aware of your whole student. You can’t just teach for the test; you have to think about developing learners who can think for themselves, not regurgitate material to pass the state test or to look good for your district. I think you still need to make learning enjoyable and fun. We want kids to be life-long learners, not just to learn something and forget it once the test is done. I think in order to do that you have to find out what children are interested in and you need to make learning relevant. You need to get them excited about life and learning. So, finding a balance between teaching what you have to teach to meet standards and