The Power of a Teacher

Sitting in class Tuesday night, I felt inspired to say the least. The words being spoken to us gave us such a feeling of power and responsibility. I feel like I am actually beginning to grasp that I will be teaching next year and actually utilizing all of the information I have been learning for the past five years. That seemed to be just a crazy idea....until now.

In watching the videos about guided reading and discussing the elements that make a successful literacy environment, I grasped how much of the knowledge I have truly internalized. Throughout my various practicums and classes, I have observed countless lessons, and I have seen firsthand the benefits of this type of teaching. I cannot wait to do it. 

I taught a lesson on writing today, and the power of individual students continues to amaze me. Some of the students are so bright they finish all of their thoughts and are constantly needing new challenges, whereas other students are struggling to lay the basic ideas on the page. Regardless of their abilities to actually write, through observing conversations and actual seat work, I hear and see such bright ideas. The students are anxious to write a persuasive essay, a feat that I never thought would be accomplished. 

Teachers truly do have power, and it is up to each one of us to utilize it to the best of our abilities. We can make a difference. 

Popcorn and movies

After last week's class, I really got to thinking about how important it is to make the information relevant and tangible to your students. A seemingly simple description of a literacy tool can sound so complex to ears that have never heard of it before. The shoe analogy observed in the movie reminded me of just that; even though it seems so simple to us, we often have to think like our students....however scary that might be.

In my practicum last week I was teaching writing, specifically on the idea of a thesis. This simple word can be so daunting to students, and it is one that will consistently reappear throughout their school lives. However, I discovered that the idea is fairly difficult to describe and even more challenging to put into real writing. My students barely understand the concept of an essay, and I think the idea of a thesis may have been over their heads. That is the tricky part of teaching like this....coming in twice a week, following someone else's lesson sequence, trying to put the pieces together...there are bound to be some disconnects. I think I may have found one.

In a school world overcome with five paragraph essays and a large amount of matching someone else's format, I think it is beneficial to teach students to be creative. There needs to be more emphasis on originality and writing for writing's sake instead of just assessment. Standards can be creatively wrapped into writing, and the teachers just need to figure out how to do it well. As we saw with our reading lessons and Al Capone, starting with the quality instruction and then incorporating the standards is a sure fire way to effectively meet the needs of one's students. 

Lit Circles

      After loving literature circles in my practicum, I was excited to be able to learn more about them in class. I can see how they can be used for a wide variety of ages and abilities with different books. Through reading Al Capone Does My Shirts, I now better understand how to start from a whole book approach and then choose the standards and big ideas that coincide with good literature. Not only did I really enjoy the book, but I also feel like both boys and girls would like it as well. They would be able to understand the deeper themes and develop relationships with their classmates through discussing the topics in literature circles.

     I really like the idea of literature circles in upper elementary classrooms because they give control to the students. At this point in their lives, they are often trying to find responsibilities they can take on, and if they can take charge of their learning, they will benefit greatly! In my practicum, the students loved choosing what to discuss and how they were to structure their own talks. Literature circles can be a great way to delegate responsibility to each and every member in the classroom, thus including the often quiet and shy students who might be overlooked in book discussions. 

      Because I came into my classroom after much of the routines were already set, the literature circles seem to flow so easily. However, after many talks with Dona, she informed me that the first several weeks were spent solely teaching the students how to talk in their groups. Clear scaffolding is needed if the students are to thrive in this type of environment, and I think they can do just that.