Question 1: What have I learned?!

Throughout this whole semester I feel like I’m ready to enter into the world of teaching. The textbook has opened up my eyes to a new way of thinking about phonics, comprehension, thinking out loud and fluency. In order to have my students interested in reading I myself, must read and learn to enjoy reading. It is through reading and conversation that fluency is developed and increased. All the time my elementary teachers told me to stop talking out of turn, or to stop talking because I was distracting other I realized that they we stopping my thinking, well not really but in so many words it is true. I realize how important it is to have the children in my class to talk about what they are thinking about. I loved the way Huntley would lecture us on something and then she would stop and tell us to talk to the people at our table about what we were thinking about. Since I am a talker I think this really help me thinking about not only what was going on but it really had me thinking.

Thinking is important and I learned that it is dangerous to have our students stop thinking about what they are thinking. How do we expect the students to learn anything if they cannot talk about what they are thinking? I wish more school would believe in balance literacy, I think that if teacher would create a safe and respecting environment in their classroom students would feel comfortable learning and would not be scared to ask silly question. In my practicum I noticed how every child understood that there were rules that needed to be obeyed but at the same time they understood that Mrs. Roark is there to teach them and to help answer their questions. If teacher do not create a safe environment for thinking and to ask questions that where will we produce thinkers who are not scared to think beyond the limits?!

Along with allow and encouraging my students to think I want them to talk about things. Through conversations is how fluency is developed. I don’t want any child to feel scared to talk in class. If they have a theory I want them to explore it until they find the correct answer. If my teachers would have allowed for exploration in their classrooms I think I may have loved school but because the environment never seemed welcoming I elementary school left a bad taste in my mouth.

I honestly have learned a lot for this class but I think one thing that I would take away from this class is the fact that a safe environment creates a safe place to explore. Exploration leads to answers and answers lead to conclusions. I want to be the teacher who produces students who think and learn. I want to be the teacher that not only pushed her students to think outside the box but to go and find answers to question that I cannot answer. I want to one day look on the news and see that one of my elementary student has just found a cure for cancer because they thought beyond the limits.