I envision my role of teacher as comparable to that of a personal trainer. A personal trainer tailors an exorcise program to a client’s needs in the same way that I will let my student’s abilities and perceived potential guide my teaching. With any new client, a trainer must first assess their physical strength and capability before deciding on the quality and quantity of the exorcises that he will introduce. Similarly, I will assess my students’ background knowledge, preferred learning techniques, and interests in order to decide exactly what and how to teach.
In considering prospective activities, a trainer must modify his plans to work within a client’s zone of proximal development. For example, if they are working on lifting weights, the trainer will need to choose an appropriate amount of weight so that the trainee is challenged and muscles are strengthened, yet not so much weight that the trainee is frustrated and discouraged from continuing in the program. Likewise, as a teacher, I will give my students problems to solve that will challenge them but that I know they will be able to complete with determination and support. I want students to exorcise their brains in a way that they will feel satisfied with their eventual accomplishments rather than dispirited by certain failure.
Once any program has started, a personal trainer should expect his client to improve in physical ability. He will keep records of their achievements as formative assessment of their developing abilities. This will help the trainer decide which of his techniques are most successful and which muscle groups need more exclusive attention. I will also apply formative assessment to my teaching, periodically testing my students in a variety of ways. Thus, I will be able to decide what information was not fully understood by my students, what types of teaching strategies produced the greatest results, and what direction I should take next in my teaching.
Perhaps most importantly, a personal trainer provides support to his clients. He serves physically to ‘spot’ the participant when lifting weights, and he serves emotionally to encourage and cheer on a client when results are sparsely seen or when exorcise becomes especially difficult. I want my students to feel safe in exploring the content independently, knowing that they will not be left stranded if problems arise. I want to be a teacher who motivates my students when they are having trouble with a concept. Just as a personal trainer would vary exorcises to keep his client from becoming bored, I want to constantly provide my students with new, creative ways to explore the information. I want projects to be exciting so that students will come to associate the learning process with positive images. I want to give them valid reasons for their schoolwork, so that I can remind them of their goals when they do become discouraged. Finally, as my students’ personal trainer, I want to exhaust every possible approach in order to aid in their growth.
