Wow. Spring Term has been one of the most enlightening semesters for me at BYU thus far. My classes, while rapid and very challenging, have opened my eyes even more to the plan Heavenly Father has for me. Especially in my IP&T class. In this education class, we focus on just about everything we as future educators can do for our students, from effective assessments to interventions and even how we can instill hope in our students. Today, especially, I had it reconfirmed to me, that my role as a teacher will be one of divine origin. And my job description broadened once more.
I realized once again that my job is going to expand so much farther beyond just teaching my students the curriculum. I am going to be everything from an educator, to a statistician, to a psychologist. I will be a friend, a role model, and now an inventor too.
What an exciting career that has chosen me!
We talked in my class today about the power of a self-fulfilling prophecy, or a prediction that causes itself to become true either through negative or positive feedback between belief and behavior. That sounds like a very formal definition but really, it's what we as members of the LDS church practice all the time. We receive positive feedback and we make a good behavior become a reality through the Atonement or righteous living. In fact, my professor gave an example from the Book of Mormon of when King Lamoni was converted by Ammon (aka my all-time favorite scripture story). He felt a very strong impression that he needed to share with us that if a murdering savage like Lamoni could find redemption after seeing a positive future for himself, that truly anyone can.
As teachers and human beings, we cannot forget that just like how one person saved many nations, one person can save even more inquiring minds.
Professor Wilkinson went onto say that every thought, every belief, and every perception is all invented. And because of this... we are all inventors. We invent hope in our students, we invent what we think of them when we first look at them, and these assumptions that we invent have the power to hold us and our students back. Or they have the power to propel us forward. The choice is truly ours. When we stereotype or assume something about our students, it's not that these thoughts we have in our mind are untrue or wrong, it's just that they are incomplete.
As teachers, we are called to do so much more than any other career I think. We have to become aware of our unconscious biases that we have as human beings and turn off incomplete thoughts when we look at our students. We have to hold all students, no matter race, gender, or economic status to the same level of expectation in the classroom. We have to ask ourselves, "What might I invent that I haven't yet invented that will change my assumptions?"
The whole point of self-fulfilling prophecy, or the Pygmalion Effect, is this idea that when you force your desire on something it can become a reality.
As children of our Heavenly Father, we are aware of our divine potential. However, we often forget that we are made of absolute perfection. Our Earthly minds perceive our faults and our shortcomings. And we start to become them if we aren't careful. Yet, God see us as the most wonderful creations He has ever made. We must mind this gap. We need to try to see ourselves in a positive light and bridge this gap that this mortal existence creates. This goes so much farther than a classroom; this is truly a lifestyle. We must realize that our words, to ourselves and to others, affect what we believe in ourselves and in others.
We invent our realities and the realities of those around us. We have the power to build someone up, or tear someone down. We affect ourselves and the people that are placed in our path. As a future teacher, I'm so grateful that I'm learning the power of self-fulfilling prophecies now. I'm grateful that I've been entrusted with the skills necessary to reach my potential in this truly divine calling and career.
I am truly an inventor with so much to create and I hope that my influence is a positive one.
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