Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Fulfilling the Promise Chapter 1 & 2

Some areas in the first chapter that i really liked and would like to bring into my classroom is "Teachers must take into account who they are teaching as well as what they are teaching" (p.2) There are so many times where a see teachers teach the same way to all the students and it doesn't work. Every student is different therefore they need to be taught at their own level. This is really important to me because I have expreinced it as a child and I was felt like I was the one left out in understanding everything. I hated that feeling and so I am going to go to great lengths to make sure I teach to every level and be aware of who I am teaching as well as what I am teaching.  Students have traits that show that they are ready to address learning and those traits are "Readiness, interest, learning profile and affect" (p.3) The one that I think sticks out to me the most out of those is the Interest part. I feel that if the student doesn't have interest they are not learning to their fullest. I feel like it is the teachers job to make everything fun and interesting to the students. Anything can become interesting if you (the teacher) just take time to make the lesson interesting and intriguing to the students. There are also classroom elements that help the students responses to the learning and those are "Content, process, product, and learning environment." (p.4) I feel that all of these play a huge role in a students learning as well. It is so interesting to learn all about all these little details that make a big difference in the students learning process. The last thing that really hit me in chapter one was on p. 9 when it talks about the student not being able to do anything until you (the teacher) believe in them, and them believing in you. That is such a great way of wording it in my mind because when you have someone believing in you it makes you want to push yourself to your fullest and to never give up because you don't want to let anyone down and most of all you don't want to let yourself down. 
In chapter 2 It talks about what student's needs and this chapter was really fun for me to read  and to see all the things that help students succeed. One area of this was to feel safe. Feeling safe in the classroom impacts the students learning enormously. I know for a fact that I could never learn in a place that I didn't feel safe in because I would have to many other worries on my mind. So as a teacher that is one goal I will have in my classroom. Another one is a sense of belonging. I feel that every child should feel just as important as the next. When students feel like they belong and are important it make them feel like they can over come any challenge because they know that they have such a great support network to help them along the way. One thing that came to my mind that I feel is so so so important is building not only a community in my classroom but friendships Being in this program I have made so many friends in my class and I feel so comfortable in school now. I feel like I have a voice and that everyone is so respectful. Building a classroom that is strong like this will seriously make the students love coming to school. I have gained so much knowledge and over come so many challenges since being in this program that it has really made such a positive impact on my life. An impact that I will never forget and will always cherish. I hope with all of my heart that I can create a great community as well as friendships in my classroom. If I can do that then I know I am a successful teacher.

2 comments:

Zach & Lindsey Boskovich said...

Sorry the second paragraph started acting up on me so the words didn't all end up together. I hope that it makes sense to you. I didn't want to mess with it and have it get erased. Let me know if you want me to re-due it.
Thanks,
Lindsey Boskovich

Teacherheart said...

I could read it just fine, and it was a thorough and sincere reflection on the reading. 4 points.