Learning Letter

On the first day of class when we went over the syllabus, I did not realize how much work I would complete, or how much I would learn over the course of ten weeks. Through reading various articles, teaching a mini-lesson, and giving a book talk, I’ve learned a lot about myself as a future teacher.

The three week unit plan was by far the hardest assignment of the quarter, and probably the hardest assignment I have ever had to complete. Although it was a lot of work, I am happy that I was able to successfully complete it. I realized that I have a lot of ideas as a teacher and really care about making what I teach student-centered. I know there are ways I can improve the unit plan, but already knowing some of those ways helps me as a teacher. I’ve learned that there isn’t a “right way” to teach. I appreciate the freedom the unit plan allowed, but that same freedom made it even more difficult.

The mini-lesson I taught had a lot of positive aspects to it. It was the first actual lesson I taught on my own, so it was a learning experience. I definitely tried to do too much in such a short amount of time. I also had way too many learning objectives that I would never be able to accomplish in 20 minutes. Teaching this lesson first made planning my unit a lot easier because I learned from my mistakes.

The book talk was a lot more work than I expected it to be, but I am happy we incorporated them in the class. There were many questions that I was required to answer about the book that I would never have thought about before implementing it in a classroom. I chose Slaughterhouse Five, a book that is often on the banned books list. There are many obstacles that come along with teaching the book. There are instances of sexual language, parts where different religions could be insulted, and swearing. I can see arguments for why parents or administrators wouldn’t want students exposed to that kind of material. But adult language isn’t exclusive to Slaughterhouse Five. There are many books that fall on the banned book list each year, books that I know I will want to teach and have solid reasoning for teaching them. Knowing the obstacles I might face as a teacher and how to overcome them will help me in my career.

I appreciate all of the readings we completed for class. The discussion reading and Freire are the two that stick out the most to me. I liked the reasoning for using discussion in class. Students take responsibility for their education as well as their peers’. Discussion exposes students to a variety of ideas, opinions, cultures, values, religions, etc. that students might not have appreciated otherwise. I implemented a lot of discussions in my unit plan based off of this reading. Even though it was dense, I enjoyed reading Freire. His idea of “banking education” really stuck with me. He says that students aren’t empty vessels that you deposit knowledge into. His pedagogy has helped me develop my own in the sense that I really value student-based learning.

I tried to participate in discussions by speaking as often as I could, but many times I got just as much out of the discussions by listening. I think this will help me as a teacher because I’ve realized that even if a student doesn’t open up during discussions, that doesn’t mean they aren’t learning. Having an environment where we just talked about our opinions and questions about texts was beneficial. I enjoyed hearing what other people took away from readings because sometimes people had a differing view than I did, which aided in my learning.

Overall, the assignments and readings in this course have helped me become a better and more caring teacher.