As graduation day gets closer and closer and the realization that next year I will begin teaching sets in, I have to admit that I still feel unprepared and a little scared. Therefore, my goals for this course revolve mainly around learning as much practical knowledge and skills as possible to help me next year.
My primary goal for this class is related to Goal #2 on the syllabus: developing my pedagogy. While I have learned some valuable things in my previous TE classes, I feel as though the majority of it has been very theoretical. While I understand the need to learn about teaching philosophies, schools of thought and children’s developmental stages, I hope that this course builds off that knowledge with practical tips as well. I hope to learn teaching strategies that I can implement in the classroom along with activities and classroom management techniques.
One of my other goals for this class is to learn more ways to create an inclusive community in the classroom. The thought of how much diversity will exist in my future classroom is slightly overwhelming at times, and so I’m hoping to learn how to reach a wide range of students, learning styles and abilities. I really think that collaborative learning and creating a positive classroom community are beneficial for students, and so I’m hoping to learn ways to set this up in literacy lessons particularly so students can learn from each other as well as from me. With so much diversity in the classroom, each student will have valuable contributions to make that I want to be able to draw upon in lessons.
Finally, I’m very interested in learning more about how to make sense of the curriculum frameworks I will be working with and how to plan lessons and units effectively around these standards. After completing the in-class survey on the first day of class, I realized just how much about literacy and learning that I still don’t know but will need to teach my students. I’m hoping to find answers to many of the questions that were on the survey so I can be a more effective teacher.
Overall, I know that jumping in and getting started is going to be the best way I can get prepared to have my own classroom in the future, but I hope that this course helps better prepare me for when that day arrives!
3 comments:
One of the most important realizations that good teachers make is that they need to keep learning. Since teachers are constantly in situations in which they feel like they have to have all of the answers, it's hard to admit when you don't know something. BUT, chances are that you're never going to know anything. This is also a powerful lesson to teach kids. There is no reason why you can't tell kids that you don't have the answers and then model how to find them. What lots of people don't consider is that when teachers look like they know everything, some kids think that knowledge is like talent- you have it or you don't, which can lead to them believing that if they don't have it now, there isn't much point in hard work.
Hey Kristin! I really connected to your goals and thoughts about this semester. I share your feelings of graduation coming up too soon and the thought that we will not be as prepared as we would like to be. No matter the course or professors, I also agree with Kate in that we need to keep learning. Most of the teachers I have talked to are nothing like the teachers they were when they first started teaching. We can only get better! And in regards to not knowing everything, I think it would be a good place to encourage discussion. For example, in my math lesson today my students were learning about counting by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s, and we were counting up to 240 at times. My CT messed up today when counting by fives, and when she got to the end she admitted to the class that she made a mistake an things are even hard for her sometimes. The students learned an important lesson that everyone makes mistakes, even teachers. I know it may be difficult for you (knowing what a perfectionist you are!) but not knowing everything right now is ok.
Besides what you wrote as your goals, I am lucky to know you more than what you just wrote and I know you will become the best teacher you can be! :-)
Kristin,
I loved your goals! I really connected to your goal of developing pedagogy, because I agree that so far, our teaching courses have been very theoretical. It seems that each class we've had related to education has been a course where the disclaimer has been that "this is not a "how to teach" course." With your concern on how to create an inclusive community, I again share this, but I have had the fortune of working with a teacher, Barbara Knighton, who has the most inclusive classroom community I've ever seen. She had three autistic students last year, and she had her students help these students contribute to the class, teaching them that we all have different talents. She did it much better than my summary implies, but I'll see if I can't remember or find out some of her tricks.
Finally, based on your need to create lesson plans based on standards, I have used the Social Studies Excursions book series, by Jan Alleman and Jere Brophy, and they provide "big ideas" for each lesson in a unit, that are directly related to the standards! You should check them out!
Overall, great post and I look forward to watching you achieve your goals!
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