Monday, July 30, 2007

Teaching Meme

Mentor Texts tagged us for this meme. Franki's answers are first, in green. Mary Lee's answers are in purple. We each answered the prompts and then combined our answers, so any overlap is...because our thinking overlaps!

I am a good teacher because...I work really hard to get to know each of my students. I never sit back and think I'm a good teacher. Every year (sometimes every DAY) there are new challenges that cause me to grow and reinvent myself.

If I weren't a teacher I'd be a/an...I'd be a full time reader (is that a job?) Architect. (A story for another time: one high school teacher's gender discrimination killed a dream.)

My teaching style is...inquiry based/talk-based. Continually evolving.

My classroom is...chatty. I think kids learn a lot by talking so there is a lot of talking between kids all day. Full of books!

My lesson plans...don't ever fit into neat boxes. Begin in my imagination.

One of my teaching goals is...to keep as much student ownership in the day as possible. We are being pressured to get rid of that in the name of testing and it is the way kids seem to learn best. Create a classroom community as quickly as possible at the beginning of the year.

The toughest part of teaching is...that you never stop thinking about it--It is really the best part too--we never have it totally figured out and that makes it fun and challenging at the same time. Trying to make sure the work we do is authentic.

The thing I love most about teaching is...seeing kids grow and change and become themselves. When the lightbulbs go off (theirs or mine)!

A common misconception about teaching is...that we can all just follow a scripted program and all will be better. Meeting the needs of every child is much harder than that. "Joe/Jane Public/Politician" knows better than I do how I should be doing my job.

The most important thing I've learned since I've started teaching is...that kids do best with lots of choice and usually when I get out of the way, the totally surpass any expectations I had! There is more art than science in teaching.

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We're tagging Read, Read, Read and Creative Literacy.

6 comments:

  1. Loved reading your thoughts...Mary Lee thanks for the tag! I too agree with the idea of teaching as art. Isn't that what makes teaching so easy and exciting to come back to each year. When are we going to get together again??

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  2. Merci, and you will find I have completed my task. I kept one of the answers you and Franki wrote, but gave y'all credit. It was just too good to get rid of.

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  3. I like the way you did it. Very cool.

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  4. Anonymous9:48 PM

    That was neat, y'all. I enjoyed hearing your thoughts.

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  5. Anonymous5:59 PM

    Dying to hear the gender discrimination story. I wanted to play the drums, but my middle school band teacher told me, "Girls don't play drums; you can choose the flute or the clarinet." Oi.

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  6. Anonymous10:25 AM

    I love this meme, and I love the way you answered. Thanks, ladies!

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