#midsemesterreflection

Over the course of this semester, we have encountered many new and challenging ideas and concepts that have helped me to form a more concrete idea of what teaching writing really means. I intend to be a high-school English teacher, which makes many of these ideas and opinions very relevant to my somewhat immediate future. I think that a teacher is more than just a transfer-er of knowledge. They are a guide to helping students find their own ideas, styles, and passions. I think that in order to accomplish this effectively, a teacher must be open to different interpretations and ideas. In my own experience, nothing stunts growth and development more than a teacher who says they only accept one way of doing something, and that is their way. Every student learns different, thinks differently, and has their own way of accomplishing tasks. I think that the best kind of teacher is the one who presents a model or guide for students that they can other follow exactly, or make their own unique modifications. Some students do not have the same background and may not have a preference on, for example, how to organize research, while others may have their own system that works well for them. An example of this that I have first hand experience with is how to organize research. In high school, my English classes had a specific format and rules that had to be followed while doing research. We were taught how to fill out note cards that were categorized a certain way. While this method would have been great to introduce to a freshman class, after that point, everyone should have been able to make their own modifications to their research organization. This was not the case. For three years, that method was required while doing research. It wasn’t until my senior year that a teacher finally said that we have been researching for four years, we know what works and doesn’t for us and that as long as we have a way to organize it, we could chose how to go about that. I wish that had been done my sophomore year of high school rather than my senior year. Schools, and some teachers, spend so much time standardizing and regulating student learning and writing processes instead of really helping each student reach their full potential. We should, as educators, give students tools, show them how to use them, and then let them choose how they are going to build the table, rather than giving them an Ikea kit to assemble. Though that way is easy and standard, it is not the best way to build real skill. Teaching writing is no different. S student should be knowledgeable enough and have enough guidance that they can figure things out in their own way, comfortably and confidently. Not every table should look the same or be built the same way, the way Ikea furniture is.

“Good teaching is being accepting of student ideas and opinions, keeping in mind how each student learns and makes connections, and allowing students to shape their own learning.” This was the statement that I put on my sun during class. I chose three theories to connect this to; process pedagogy, critical theory, and multiple literacy theory. Most of my practices involved catering to student learning and growth. One example that I came up with specifically was assigning them buddies to look over their work. I think that this would go beyond just being helpful for the writer, but I think that it would help the reader to better understand different viewpoints and ideas about the same topic. I also think that allowing students to vote or individually choose how they want to learn or handle a unit or lesson is very important. Expecting every student to demonstrate knowledge and understanding in the same way is absurd. I think that students should have more of a choice of how they want to show me that they have learned and understand the material. If I have a student how learns best through music, having them write a song and explain their thinking would be a great way to allow them to demonstrate understanding, as opposed to making them all take the same test at the end of a unit.