User:Lab1981/sandbox
Introduction
I have been privileged to hear many stories detailing how many people became successful. They often vary in many instances but share invariably one factor. That factor describes an individual who has indirectly or directly impacted their lives in some way, shape or form-a teacher. If a teacher can change the trajectory of a child’s life it therefore is a testament to the fact that a teacher is a social change agent. We seek not only to impact those who are under our tutelage but to also impact others beyond the classroom.
Who is a teacher- Social Change Agent)
Who is a change agent? Hamied et. al. (2015) defined the term as someone who proposes ways of understanding to support school and student success so that they can build the entire school’s capacity to improve. Bourns (n.d.) declared that teachers are looked upon as individuals who can help to bring about positive changes in the lives of people. Our job as teachers is to bring about a relative permanent change. Our job is to see a change that will impact the person who is under our direct tutelage but for that change to impact others in the community and the world by extension. As teachers we want our impact to be felt way beyond our classrooms. Our goal is to be a global agent of change.
Mandate as an agent of change
Every year we are given a set of students to teach. The reality is that we are not given a choice in the matter of choosing who gets in. They have a certain expectation of us and of themselves. Waterloo Region District School Board. (2014, August 29) described the role of a teacher as, “Helping kids to exceed their expectations.” They come functioning as at a certain level and really can’t see beyond that. However, as the teacher we need to show and prove to them that they can exceed much more. In other words, we are mandated to get them out of their comfort zone to a point where they see newer and better possibilities for themselves. As the social change agent, is to ensure that we effect changes in our kids which will essentially help them to be better people in society.
The power of the agent of change
The influence of a teacher far outweighs that of many other professionals. We are in a unique situation where hundreds of students pass through our hands. We are therefore able to impact our students causing that relatively permanent change in them that is described as learning. The position that we are placed in as teachers affords us the monumental opportunity to mold and shape the minds of the old and the young. Schulz (2018) stated that, “a social change agent needs to know things, be able to do things, and be guided by values and attitudes. We effectively change the directions of our students and have them gain success and become agent of change themselves.
Conclusion
Teachers have played a vital role in shaping society and will continue to do so. Our role is powerful, and we impact both old and young. We are indeed agents of social change whose job it is to impact lives whom we teach and the world by extension.
Reference
Bourn, D. (2016). Teachers as agents of social changeLinks to an external site.. International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning, 7(3), 63–77. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1167813.pd
Hamied, F. A., Ida Bagus Putra Yadnya, I.B.P., Sosiowati, I. A. G. (2015) DEVELOPING INDIGENOUS MODELS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT. Bab_dlm_BUKU-TEFFLIN-Cetak_2015-libre.pdf
Waterloo Region District School Board. (2014, August 29). John Hattie: Teachers as change agentsLinks to an external site.. [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XWMAteuaks