REFLECTION- humanism

What I learnt was humanism approaches which focus on the importance of

inner world of the students. I think all of the teachers should make use of this
approach because humanism accepts the learner as a human being rather than
a mechanic receiver.

I want to take the advantage of theory of Erik Erikson in my teaching, and I

have already asked myself “why” and “how” to be more aware of the
information I got. It is mostly because this theory claims that people pass
through the series of challenges and as a teacher we can help the students to
get over them properly. Therefore, for the challenge of young learners I believe
I must encourage them to work in pairs as they create sense of industry with
cooperation not competition. Also, for the high school learners, I should show
tolerance to their decision for themselves as they will be trying to find a proper
identity. I guess I will be guider for their decisions about the future they
choose. Being like a counselor, a guider or a facilitator will be helpful for them
to pass their stages appropriately.

Maslow suggests that teachers should care about the students’ needs.
However dealing with their needs is not enough and he gives other criteria on
the grounds of his hierarchy. Students mostly want to have fun, be safe and
feel powerful in the classroom so depending on this information I have
understood that being teacher is not as easy as I thought before but I am still
optimistic. To make the students feel belong to the classroom; I think I will give
the opportunity for them to express their ideas about the classroom rules or
the issues of the lesson. I know that students don’t feel safe when they are
humiliated in front of the classroom so I should keep this in my mind and I
should encourage the students to participate in lesson in order to feel
important and feel powerful. Also, I will ask them to come up with something
they create so that they can see how creative and how successful they are.

Thinking of all information I got, I think I know what I should do. To be a

humanistic teacher I will definitely involve the students as a “whole person”
and I will do whatever necessary to make the students personalize the learning,
but I know it won’t be easy and also I know life doesn’t always go my way so I
guess I will bring this information into practice after I smell the atmosphere of
the classroom I teach. That will be real place which I face on my own.
Obviously, this will be my challenge but like I said before I am still positive :).