first blog for the new blog page (copied and pasted from prev blog)

Vivian Vasquez adequately demonstrates the practice of maturely connecting with the students despite their age and experience. Not only does this tactic apply to children at the kindergarten level but what about teenagers? How often do we find ourselves either approaching failing teenage students by giving them options to clean up their act or, after not seeing any improvement or motivation, we begin to ignore the them and their attitudes. Is it easier to make them feel inferior? Is it truly an effective way to encourage students to clean up their act by letting them know they are disappointing not only to themselves but to you as well? As educators are we too concerned with authority? Perhaps in that sense, we lose ourselves in classroom management and innovative teaching techniques. We need to explore different ways to connect with our students on a more personal level. If we don’t step in and demonstrate that we care about their success, where will their motivation to succeed develop? On the other hand, is it our responsibility to play an active role in motivating our students? Should we feel a sense of responsibility to “save” our students from falling between the cracks? Is that fair to them? Personally, I don’t believe in saving students. As teachers I think it’s important to be supportive, encouraging, and challenging to our student’s educational experience.