February 17, 2015 - 01:53
I noticed that while I was reading this article it mentioned something I had already known however, for some reason I ended up looking at it through a different aspect I had never considered before. I know that we are focusing in Urban education however, I would still like to share what I noticed because I believe that if what is described below is an essential component toward educating students in urban education then why is different for students pursuing higher education? The quote that I am referring to is the following,
"Feeling known is a critical aspect of teacher care, because when an adolescent perceives that a teacher "knows me", this signals that the identities ascribed to the student via experiencing the classroom environmen are coherent with the deeply personal, evolving identities that students hold. At the same time, when an adolescent perceives that the teacher "doesn't know me", this signifies a lack of teacher care and opportunities for the engagement and learning are significantly diminished" (6).
It is stressed that students do better when their teacher "knows" them which in my opinion makes sense and I agree with what is being presented however, I also find it interesting that when the time comes for students to apply to college and are informed about the different kinds of schools and structures they form their classrooms, would this idea of a professor knowing their student still count? I remember learning that at some schools there are classrooms with a significant number of students ranging from 50 and over students in a classroom. This makes it difficult for the professor and the student to establish a relationship and can cause students to feel less inclined to reach out to the professor especially attend their class sessions. If an urban student were to graduate from high school and continue their education at a school with a significant amount of students in a classroom being the average amount, wouldn't this ideal that the article poses backfire?
How can we continue to support urban city school students even as they enter their first year of college? I just feel like even though it is important for us to focus on helping these students do better in school and graduate high school we forget that this is just the beginning because even after they graduate high school, they still have to face getting through college or whatever other kind of route they have decided to continue on towards.