Reading the english blog i immediately saw the extra credit opportunity. knowing that i have been behind on my blogs i knew going to see some speaker for an hour wouldn’t kill me, not to mention that going to see Rafe Esquith is extra credit in another one of my classes. walking into the auditorium I saw a bunch of  older people there very eager to see Rafe, i honestly had no idea what the big deal was, it was just some guy coming in to talk about his teaching experiences. Once Rafe started speaking i instantly knew why these other people were so excited to see him. I quickly found that he is the Opera of the teaching world.

Rafe Esquith has been teaching for about 28 years and he has changed many lives of his students and even the way other teachers approach their students. Rafe works as a fifth grade teacher in L.A., over 50 percent of the students are below the poverty line and all students speak english as a second language. Rafe has won various awards for his outstanding performance but he says the ony one that matters to him is watching a student succeed.

Rafe has many ways of teaching and these are just a few of the things that really stood out to me.

“Get rid of all fear.” In schools these days bullying has become a very big issue, it is seen more often, and kids are becoming more brutal. Students aren’t just picking on the smallest kid in the class but they are targeting anyone and everyone they can make miserable. a lot of times this might be mentally or verbally attacking someone. Rafe says with all this bullying there is enough fear in coming to school why add more by bullying school in the classroom? By yelling at a student for not turning in a homework assignment or messing up in class makes students fear coming to school even more. Rafe also said that he never raises his voice to the class, but he still gets his point across to the class. students should feel like the class room is a safe zone.

” Be the person you want your students to be”  Rafe said that students observe every move a teacher makes, even when a teacher least expects it the students are still watching very closely. Teachers are role models for their students, they are who they see for the majority of the day. When a student sees their teacher be productive and hard-working they are going to want to be the same way.

I can go on and on about what I learned from Rafe Esquith, this was not just an extra credit opportunity but this was a chance for me to listen to one of the greats give his little insights to teaching. with all the motivation and inspiration he to many educators, i wonder if all his stories are true. I’m sure Rafe would not make anything up  but I question how one guy can do all this good, change all these lives, and change how some educators teach their students.

 

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