Dear Prof. Agriss,

I feel like I am a different person after taking this class. I approach the world around me with a significantly different mindset; obviously, this also extends to the way I approach education. I still perceive education as fundamentally about communication, but the depth and complexity of that nature has greatly expanded. My education, for as far back as I can remember, was just teachers talking at me over and over again. I had been schooled with the banking method. As a result, that is all I thought education was. After I took a Communication Studies 200 and Education 309 with Mr. Syrie that perception was turned on its head. From Mr. Syrie I learned the importance of relationships. The idea that you must first have a relationship, that you must first know your student, in order to do anything else is a principle I consider constantly. Of course, relationships are built and maintained through communication. This class forced me to test these beliefs through my mini-lesson and unit plan.

Developing my unit plan illuminated for me the multitude of areas where I need improvement, but there are two specific areas that I need to work on: student voice and differentiated instruction. I need to find a worthwhile method for collecting student voice in a short amount of time. It seems to me that to actually assess all students’ understanding of the objective is not accomplished by simply having the class recite the objective off the board, or selecting only a few students to put it in their own words.  As for differentiated instruction, the idea of having a very modular classroom where students are working on whatever it is that will help them best to meet the CCSS is something I would like to pursue. Tailoring the education process as closely as possible to the needs of individuals is a principle I want to integrate more into how I approach teaching.    

Teaching my mini-lesson was a big highlight of the quarter. It reminded me how much I enjoy being in the position of a “learning facilitator.” Once the horrid, throbbing, heat of fear from being in charge subsides, and I find a little confidence, I just love being in front of people. Working with people, discussing the fascinating contents of the world, communicating ideas back and forth with potency—being able to do all of that is why I want to be a teacher. As a slight tangent, it really is perplexing to me why I just don’t find people my own age interesting. I find adolescents and the elderly to be the most interesting stages of life. The time in between is just so dreadful.

I decided to do very little preparation for the presentation of my book talk. I wanted to see how well I could function if I had to just wing it. While I did passably well, I think what I need to do is make and memorize a timeline before I present. For whatever reason I swing on either end of the pendulum in that respect. I either memorize a verbatim speech or completely wing it with poor results.

The concept that influenced me the most this quarter was “discussion as a mode of teaching.” In conjunction with my appreciation of differentiated instruction, I really want to research how best to incorporate a great deal more discussion into my teaching methods. I really like how it can create an open and equal classroom community between the students themselves and the instructor. I think if I had my unit plan to do all over again, I would choose The Great Gatsby or To Kill a Mockingbird, or maybe True Diary, and read either book as a class. Perhaps break students into groups of 4 that would all read the text together. Half the class time would be devoted to reading the novel aloud and the other half to discussing what was just read—just an idea. As I continue to investigate discussion as a teaching methodology, the obstacle I most want to confront in discussions is alienation. The culture of most classrooms is not sufficiently inclusive of all students to provide them with enough motivation to get involved in the conversation. Though I should note that I don’t think it is necessary for students to always be vocal in a discussion for them to be involved. I almost never make a claim in a discussion. I ask lots of clarifying questions, but I always write a response after all is said and done. I just can’t help myself not to. I bought Pedagogy of the Oppressed and plan to read it over break. I think working through that text will help me a great deal in understanding how to use discussion in the classroom, though I can imagine reading all of Freire in depth is no easy feat.

The book I most enjoyed reading this quarter was Tovani’s. She provided me with a much needed conceptual framework for how to read and then teach the skill within it. From fourth grade through eighth grade I was in the resource room for reading and writing as a dyslexic. If during that time someone had used Tovani’s practices and showed me the larger context of what literature is at the same time, the story of my public education would have been significantly different. I hope to be able to use her wisdom to affect this change for my future students.

After this class I am drastically more prepared to teach than I was before. But, I don’t think I will perceive myself as a teacher any differently until I am finally placed in a classroom. I still think of myself as chiefly student. I simply do not have enough real experience as a teacher of adolescents to think otherwise. Thus to put it mildly I am in great and pleasant anticipation of working with kids, as well as applying everything I have learned to Social Studies education. I was always writing down ideas for when I make my unit plan for SS 390.

Best regards,

                        Ethan Whitney