Disposition 3

Authenticity:

What we're all striving for is authenticity, a spirit-to-spirit connection.

-Oprah Winfrey

I would like to thing that my limits in expressing myself authentically lie in the extremities. That I would always be my truest self unless it was a very unsafe circumstance or if it would benefit someone and I decided it would be worth it. I feel that in order to communicate effectively, I must be honest with myself and my students. However, I also assume that there will be times and places in my teaching career in which it will be a good choice to be more reserved and less involved.

If you are a person who wants to be in a classroom and has the skills to be there as an educator, the only other necessary skill you require is the ability to be yourself. I have had incredibly inspiring instructors who moved and changed me in ways I never anticipated simply because they shared themselves and their passions with me.

I once thought that in order to be an effective instructor that you had to have a classroom personality or persona that was separate from your normal life self. I brought this up to my mom, an elementary music educator, and she said, "You know, I don't think that I have a "classroom personality" and I don't think ANY of my colleagues do. I don't know how I would survive, not being myself all day". In order for me to enjoy what I am doing, I need to be myself and be present. If I don't enjoy my experience, I can't expect my students to enjoy it or get anything out of it.

Disposition 2

Compassion:

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. - The Dalai Lama

I struggled a lot during my freshman year with many aspects of campus life. I had two professors reach out to me both in subtle and major ways. Each week I would go to my lesson (I'm not telling you which lesson!) and my professor would ask me how I was doing. It may seem like a simple, common thing that everyone says, and it is. Every single day, I ask at least 15 people, "How are you" and they ask me the same. Whoever it is, we both usually say, "Good!". With this professor, I knew that he or she genuinely wanted to know how my life was going and how I was adjusting. We eventually got to talking for up to 20 minutes of my hour long lesson about things that were bothering me, weather it was my room mate, anything regarding my instrument, inter departmental drama, or how there was nothing for vegetarians to eat on campus. Having an adult care that much about me right from the beginning has helped me to develop as an artist. In a lesson setting, I now feel incredibly free to express myself verbally AND through my instrument. These skills and feelings have even extended to my other instrument and helped me to be more confident and comfortable in all places on campus.

For January Term 2009, I took a Theatre/Dance course taught by Jane Hawley. The course was titled stubborn light and through that class and with her guidance, I learned so much about the human spirit and myself. I began to connect with more people on a deeper level because of her presence and influence in my life. In this course we did movement exercises, prepared meals together, read excerpts, held discussions, and learned about living life as your own person. In opening up during her course, we became very familiar with one another. I've continued to ask her guidance and shared with her all kinds of things I worry and think about.

These two professor's care for me (compassion for their student) has helped me to become more comfortable with myself and to live and build a life that I want to live.

Disposition 1

How do you define respect?

The treatment of others that is based in the understanding that each person is a whole person with their own thoughts, emotions, background, etc that result in their actions.

How does it look in the classroom?

It appears in kind interaction. There are no quick, reactive responses to statements. Students and teachers are responsible for paying attention to their initial reactions in order to learn about themselves. My kind of respect requires calmness and common compassion for each person, and is seen in student-teacher relations as two equals with open minds coming together to learn and grow, not as one talking down to the other.

What is the impact of respect or lack of respect in classrooms?

When there is a lack of respect, feelings are hurt and students do not feel free to create and share openly, limiting their growth. When there is respect in a classroom, each person feels as though they are unique and valued, inspiring them to achieve their own best; to pursue their own interests while supporting others in their endeavors. Respect comes from love, which creates communities (not without issues, of course.)

How is respect best established in a classroom environment?

Each person learns best in a different way. To get the point across to everyone, base rules need to be established, with discussion. The students need to identify what is hurtful to them. When they come up with the rules they are imagining situations and putting themselves in others positions, and they'll be more likely to follow. Some students may require time to think to themselves. They need to understand why the rules are there, beyond "to keep a good classroom".

-Emmalee Johnson