A Reflection On Something that I have learned

This post is all about focusing on how one should teach...and care about what they choose to teach their students.

It seems that the more in depth I try to make my thoughts the more lost I become. I lose sight of what I was originally trying to accomplish because I get so caught up in thinking about doing something instead of actually doing it. I noticed that when I try to first complete any task, I have to think about doing it first for a bit and how I plan on executing it before I even make one step towards getting around to carrying it out. Its like the longer I wait around and let my ideas stew...the more ideas I get until it overflows and I become unfocused. It's as if the longer you wait around to get all the right ideas the more unfocused you became-then. If a student were given a task to complete in a designated amount of time but was not given an engaging prompt or selected amount of time to go by then what could be expected besides either procrastination or just plain lack of interest? So many times I have been in a class where the teacher will try to give their students an activity to complete without giving the students something to really work with. Instead most teachers hand out a printed off copy of a worksheet or a coloring page etc. that is relevant to the material being taught...but do these types of activities really teach students anything or are they more or less a form of busy work that is looked upon as being educational? In my opinion when teachers stoop to the level of giving students work that is not challenging, they are directly contributing to their students memorizing -not learning of concepts/or content. Taking heed in such learning material as a foundation in classroom content focus shows unoriginality, and lack of the teacher wanting to truly share their own talents with their students in ways that will help them grow, and in ways that are fun and unique in comparison to the usual book, worksheet, overhead note taking, or monotone class discussions. Learning should be a fun and educational and challenging experience. As a teacher I will be sure to allow my students the leverage to take a chance and be original and creative in the classroom so that their learning will become more personal through personal learning experiences. I will focus on making my lessons challenging, fun and educational for students so that they will remain engaged somehow! The more challenging it is the more fun it is and the more (nonchalantly) educational it is!:)

Going to the pumpkin patch!

Who knew that there was so much to do with just a pumpkin???

When we went to the pumpkin patch I had the best time ever!!! I felt like a little kid again, especially when our class took a run through the hay maze :) I remember running through a large hay maze at Crawford Farms with my Dad, and getting hay stuck in my hair.

I remembered the countless times that my Dad and I went to Crawford Farms to get all of our pumpkins, squash, dried corn, and mums. Every year we went to pick out the perfect pumpkin to decorate. One year that I remember specifically was the year that we turned our "perfect pumpkin" into a painted witch pumpkin complete with a pointy, black construction paper hat. I got to help my Dad paint her face, and I also had the pleasure of putting Halloween stickers all over the hat -to give it that "special" touch.

I think that that is what made the trip so much fun for me -reliving a couple of almost forgotten childhood experience of picking out the perfect pumpkin and running through a hay maze. You're never too old to be a kid at heart- every teacher should remember that and use that as they teach their students as a way to connect to them. :)

Getting to know others...

Just like getting to know a new neighbor, so a teacher (as well as students) must get to know the students in his or her classroom. Getting to know students is vital to classroom success because the more a teacher knows their students the better they can communicate with them.

It seems so funny to me how everday I pass by tons of other students, most of which I don't even know. People are so caught up in their day-to-day lives that they hardly even take the time to notice others, or whats going on around them. A simple "hey" to a passerby wouldn't hurt every once in a while would it? Or what about stopping long enough on the way to a class to look up at the bright blue sky? The world can be such a beautiful place if we would just take a second to look around. I think that that is why sometimes adults will envy children -because they have time to "stop and smell the roses". Our world is so chaotic that its like a never ending cycle of do this and do that's...What about just being? I think that I'm right when I say that everyone needs to remember that there is so much more to life than routine, and it's ok to break away once in a while and truly live. As a teacher it will be my responsibility to impress upon myself as well as my students that classroom time will not always be the same old routine. We will take trips and go to other areas in the school to make use of its resources -such as a trip to the school library. We will have class exercises where we will take the time to get to know our peers and even me as their teacher. My main goal with such excercises would be to build a classroom community where everyone knows each other well.

reflections

To reflect is to gain better understanding of oneself as an individual, and to also gain a better understanding of the world around them.

When we reflect on the things that we encounter and experience we gain a more in-depth understanding of why we do the things that we do and how that affects us on the whole. Through reflecting on how we learn we also gain a better understanding of what will help us learn things more effectively and what our interests are when it comes to what we learn, what we like to do etc. The more we know about our own styles of learning and understanding the more room we have to work in ways that benefit and add to our own intellectual thought(s). It is important to have children and students reflect on their own work and assignments so that they can learn how to make connections between what they learn and what they already know or have experienced for themselves. When children/students have such an opportunity they can then see how what they learn in class can be applied outside of class, and how it affects them in ways that they may not have seen before until they had the chance to really think about it. As a teacher I will always allow my students some time to reflect on the things that we have covered and discussed in class so that they have the chance to express themselves in written form and also have the chance to connect their world with what they have learned. :)