Blog #6: "Withitness" and Authentic Learning
Part 1: Content Reflection Describe how you believe teacher "WITHITNESS" (Jennings, p. 43) reduces teacher bias and improves the culture of a classroom. What does "withitness" look like in a classroom setting? What does it feel like? I believe that teacher “withitness” reduces bias and improves the culture in the classroom in the way that teachers are present and aware. When a teacher is with it, they get to know their students and can sense when something is off with them. When a teacher isn’t present or doesn’t take the time to get to know their students, they run the risk of seeing a student’s behavior as negative and think that they don’t want to learn. This is not always the case as students may be struggling with things we don’t always recognize right away. When teachers take the time to compose themselves and see where the students are at, they are able to help the students learn instead of reprimanding them for behaviors or being off task.