Entry 5

• What do you think is the most important role a teacher plays? 
•  Why?What do you think is the most challenging role a teacher plays?  Why?

From working with my students it is hard to say what the MOST important role a teacher plays. I think that teachers should act as role models. Students should be able to look at a teacher and want to learn because of the way they act, teach, and present themselves in a classroom setting. Teachers need to know how to have fun but keep order in the class at the same time. A teacher needs to be a friend and a listening ear to the students. By doing this, students will be excited to learn more. Coming to school should be a pleasure not torture. The most challenging role a teacher has to play is staying emotionally detached from the students while at the same time become a friend and a caring individual. What I mean by that is teachers need to let the students know that they are important to them but the teacher should not get too emotionally involved or else they will burn out. The reason I say this is because at Dan Peterson, the students are disabled. They do not have easy lives and I do care about them but if I let myself get emotionally attached I would go into depression because I would be worried about them all the time. Teachers need to be an example for students. They need to be aware of their emotions and not let them bring the class down. That would be the most challenging role as a teacher for me.