Class Reflection

I think it’s very powerful to be able to use your own voice and express who you are. It really helps you take pride in who you are when you can openly talk about your experiences. I chose not to share in class. I really wanted to just listen to others. I think being able to sit and listen is really hard and it takes practice. It reminds me of when I was an RA at Oregon State and we took various trainings/workshops about how to listen to our peers. One of the key points was to allow people to speak about who they are and what difficulties they might be facing. Also important was to hold back on just giving your own ideas about what they should do. I think it relates a lot to being a teacher. I can’t just tell my students what to do when they’re struggling, I need to allow them to express their feelings and be the listening ear that asks the right questions that allow them to find their way. I might have just gone on a random tangent, but it had me thinking a lot about how everyone has so many different experiences and stories that they might want to share or might want to keep for themselves and the choice of sharing or not is a very powerful one. I appreciate everything everyone shared in class because I feel like it allows me more insight into everyone’s lives. I think the way I get to know people is by listening to what they want to share. I am glad that as a cohort we are so close and we can share with each other things that are sometimes hard to express.