Textbook Child vs. Real Child
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Textbook Child vs. Real Child
In nursing school, they taught us all about the textbook patient and when we all started our first jobs as nurses, none of us ever met a textbook patient. It's because they don't exist and neither do textbook children. It can be a real eye opener when you find out the students aren't going to follow the scenario spelled out in your books but textbooks can't account for every child, every student, every personality.
Not every child in our classroom is a "textbook child;" meaning they do not all fall into one of the categories we might have covered in our teaching degree classes. Each child is different and comes with his or her own uniqueness. Get to know various child types by engaging in hands-on education activities. If your college offers internships, teaching aide or assistant programs, or volunteer opportunities for college credit, take them up on it as soon as possible. Interacting in real classroom environments can certainly put a new appreciation of the profession and the amazing opportunities. It can also have you running away screaming, deciding teaching isn't what you want to be. Don't despair. It's better to find out sooner rather than later that teaching a room full of excited third graders isn't where you want to spend the next 30 years of your life. Instead, re-evaluate what grades you want to teach and volunteer in those classrooms before deciding to pitch the teaching idea altogether.
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| Heidi Splete |
