Challenge breeds critical thinking, which in turn leads to active citizens;
Inspiration drives any self-aware person;
Showcasing is the only way to get the word out! Especially for a middle or high school librarian.
Oh my, what have I gotten myself into... Buckle up, Buttercup.
PS: this is a drilled down version of my assignment. My full thought process can be found at Imagine.
PS: this is a drilled down version of my assignment. My full thought process can be found at Imagine.
I just wrote on my ‘I believe’ statements in class that an excellent teacher challenges their students and believes in their capabilities; therefore, I really like your idea of incorporating challenge. I also like when teachers ask students probing questions to encourage them to think even further than they already have.
ReplyDeleteI had an English teacher in high school who once told me that I ‘almost had it,’ referring to identifying a theme in a book. She told me to keep thinking and would come back to me. I appreciated that she recognized that I was on the right track, and deeply thinking about the themes in the book, without simply dismissing my answer to her question and moving on to the next student with their hand up. I want to be such a teacher because challenge and reflection means something different to each individual student.
Inspiration is something I think will be difficult, especially at first, because some students simply do not care about school. A teacher can make a lesson extremely interesting and dynamic, yet there will most likely be a couple of students who will be staring into space, not engaged. Thinking about what I’d want to learn is a good idea, yet what I want to learn and what students want to learn might be two different things; however, the idea of putting myself into a students’ shoes would probably help in finding a way to inspire my students. I guess I should just make sure I learn about each of my students’ interests and try to reach them that way.
Showcase I also really like since it’s a way for students to express themselves, which is particularly important when students are in middle school, still trying to figure out who they are. Many skills are involved in showcase, and parents and teachers have the opportunity to learn about the student and see what they’ve learned. I enjoyed reading your post Heather!
First of all, I love your blog's name picture and the fonts. I think all of us have very similar view on how we like to teach and what we want to expect from our students. I hope all educators would have the same view and would be able to follow it. Make teaching and learning an active, involved process. Great views!
ReplyDeleteTTYL
Your blog is amazing! I will definitely be asking for tips throughout the course. I also enjoyed your acronym. Challenge, Inspire and Showcase are all great terms for what a middle level education should encompass. I relate most to the word challenge. I agree with you, that challenges breed critical thinking, and in turn lead to active citizens. I think it is really important that we remember to challenge ALL levels of our classroom. Often times the gifted students are left to themselves, or become tutors, instead of being challenged on a regular basis. I really enjoyed reading your comment. I look forward to reading your different posts throughout the course!
ReplyDeleteWhat a pleasure reading the comments! I'm glad we had to create a blog for this class.
ReplyDelete"Any person who is aware of his environment is Inspired on a regular basis. It is my intention to tap into this natural state. I will incorporate inspiration into my library lessons by continually asking myself “What would I want to learn today?”"
ReplyDeleteThis is one of my favorite passages from anything I have read thus far. As a future social studies teacher, I believe that students need to be woken up to the inequities of the institutions around them. They need to understand why and how they are being undervalued by society even though they were born with the same intelligence as every other student. I taught in a school and district where so many students just give up and were satisfied with the standard they currently had. The high school graduation rate in this district was below 50%.
The great thing about middle school is that the students are still kids, and they still dream of climbing the steep ladder in front of them. I saw it all the time when they wrote. The kids that were most affiliated with gangs had dreams of helping people as doctors, lawyers, artists, etc. I want them to embrace their dreams and ride their ambition throughout high school. Students need teachers to connect lessons to their environment and if it is done successfully then the student might be intrinsically motivated to do the rest. Hopefully they discover that they are the future and they deserve our attention. After becoming professionals in their field, we can only hope that they return to where they come from to try and make an even greater difference.