Teaching Metaphor Revisited

At the beginning of the semester, I envisioned my role as a teacher similar to that of a personal trainer. Now, after teaching a connected unit, I realize that the comparison is much more complicated. Teachers are responsible not for one client but for an entire classroom of students. I believe that as a teacher, I will still play many of the roles that a personal trainer does. For example, a teacher needs to know her students' strengths and weaknesses to be able to guide them on a track of growth and progress that will be best suited for each individual student. Teacher must be in tune to students' zones of proximal development in order to provide the most effective instruction. Also, a teacher must provide personal support for her students, aiding in their intellectual and affective development. However, teaching a classroom introduces the issues of differentiation that are not present for a personal trainer. A teacher must be able to know and serve all her students as individuals while balancing their needs as a whole classroom. After this semester, I feel more prepared to approach differentiation and classroom management, but these are topics which I will be developing professionally throughout my years of teaching practice.