Throughout
the course of the teacher education program I have encountered many
difficulties, professionally and personally. At times I wondered why I had set
my sights on becoming an English teacher. I have thought a lot about that this
past year. I decided to become an English teacher because those teachers were
the most influential people in my life when I was at the age my students are
currently at. Teachers may not reach every student. However, the students that
teachers do reach can become lifelong learners that positively influence the
people around them.
My
primary goal this semester is to translate my original passion, the reason I
decided to be a teacher, into my classroom as I interact with students through
formal lessons and less formal discussions. I will attend to this goal in a
variety of fashions.
1. I will make the lessons
relevant. I have noticed that many teachers, young and old alike, are often
out of touch with the issues or interests that students have outside the
classroom. While classical literature is important (I certainly enjoy reading
it), many students do not feel the same way; students bumble through a purported
classic (by the teacher) and never make any connections with life today. I want
to combat this fact by including anticipatory activities that address current
issues in the news and align with ideas in classical literature. Students tend
not to put forth their best effort when they do not feel the material will
benefit them or is uninteresting. I have been guilty of this in the past; most
teachers in a degree program can empathize with this. Relevancy to the students
is an essential part of my teaching goal this semester.
2. Literacy lessons. When I teach this
semester it is my desire to incorporate many more of the literacy strategies
that we discussed last semester. I feel like I didn't have the opportunity (in
my placement) last semester to fully explore how the various strategies can
work in the classroom. Since I have been with this group of students since day
one, I am good terms with my cooperating teacher, I feel confident that I can
use strategies that I did not use last semester and have the students respond
well to them. A teacher has a responsibility to ensure class is not boring. In
order to create effective engagement I will seek varied methods, in the form of
different literacy strategies, to present lessons.
3. Feedback. I intend to seek out more
feedback this semester from varied sources to prepare effectively for next
semester. In the past I have relied primarily on my own intuition to address
issues and reconcile problems or questions. I now completely understand that a
teacher must take advantage of all the resources available. In order to be an
effective lifelong learner, I cannot try to conquer everything on my own. After
all, the teachers I am around have been in the position I am in now. Openness
and a commitment to seek out all the
available resources/feedback mediums is my responsibility. I shall not forget
it over the course of this next year.
David,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all…I LOVE your blog. Please! Please! Please! Teach me how to do something like this with mine!!!
Also, I completely agree that lesson relevance is one of the most important parts of creating meaningful learning for our students. Instead of asking ourselves why our students don’t care about the classics, we should be asking ourselves why they should and how we can connect them with relevant, modernly representative ideas and issues that they can relate to and actually utilize! I think another large part of creating meaningful learning is the way something is presented. What are our expectations? Do we want our students to come in, sit down, perform reading for xxx amount of minutes, regurgitate that knowledge onto a worksheet or formal quiz, and then go home to forget 95% of it? NO! We want them to realize they are not there to learn about how Romeo was a Montague or that he fell in love with the daughter of his rival. We want them to know that when they come into our classroom, they are there to learn about how to find these things out for themselves.
I too plan on trying out more of the literacy lessons that we learned in our general methods class last semester. If you have already sold your book, I went back to the bookstore this semester and re-purchased the Pearson text by Fisher, Brozo, Frey, and Ivey. It’s the thin one with only the 50 literacy strategies listed. You are welcome to make copies.
Thanks so much for you post David! Great Ideas!
I usually keep all my Methods and English books so I still have it. If I ever move, my collection of school books and personal novels will present a daunting task to relocate.
ReplyDeleteDavid,
ReplyDeleteThese are excellent goals you have set for yourself this year!
Making lessons relevant-- this is crucial if we expect students to actually pay attention and take anything away from our lessons! I think this is a huge obstacle to overcome at times, but I also believe that we will all find a way to make it happen this year!
Literacy Strategies- I am also eager to put the strategies that we learned last spring into action in the classroom. I believe that some of these may be easier to use in our own classrooms next year, such as the Word Wall and Tossed Terms, but that we will be able to put a few of them to use, like the Cornell Notes and Think-Pair-Share into effect this school year.
Feedback- This will be a crucial part of our career! Seeking out advice about lessons and hearing about how different lessons worked in our co-workers classrooms as well as telling them about our own experiences will be beneficial for years to know how different groups of students will respond!
Again, these are great goals for this year! Best of luck in your pre-student and student teaching this year!
Stephanie