Reflection Post

·         What did you learn about yourself as a writer? One of the biggest things that I have learned about myself as a writer is that if I make the time to write, I can really come up with some great things. I also learnt that writing in a community makes writing so much more fun and writing with those with the same purpose as you make it really worthwhile.

·         What did you learn about digital writing? I learned that digital writing is every effective especially when you are a teacher because it is an easy way for teacher to really see what does and doesn’t work in their classrooms. This also presents opportunity for improvement that base how the experiences of other teachers. I have also learned that this is a way to make resources more accessible to both teachers and students.  

·         What lessons can you take to classroom or share with future teachers about integrating blogging into instruction? I think one of the biggest things that I will take to my classroom is writing with all the teacher in my community because it is such an easy way for us to stay informed about things that really work. I think this is a great way for us to appeal to the 21^st century students. It makes learning more fun and welcoming.  

·         Challenges? The biggest challenges that I have faced was posting every week at on a timely basis.

·         Successes? The success is that I was actually able to complete every blog and I found many very usefully resources that I plan on using in my classroom.

Post #3

The author talks about the importance on Learning in Community and the Conversation of Colleagues. So basically as teachers we need to make sure that we have great relationships with the other teachers in our learning communities so that learning can be more purposeful. We need to create a collegial community of discourse that promotes "good talk about good teaching." Not only that but it allows us to stay on the same page especially when we have multiple teachers in a community who have the same students but it also makes planning and executing lessons easier.  Getting feedback on what does and doesn’t work is also a very beneficial factor so that students are getting the best deal in the classroom. In the past teachers have always been able to do what they want once they close their doors. According to the author the decision to resist feeling divided, to teach from the heart, can result in change. To teach from the heart is to heed the calling of the soul, for connection and community.

Strategies

1.      PLC’s are important part of  learning communities 

Professional Book Response 2

What was learned:

I further chapters, the author talks about The Hidden Wholeness: Paradox in Teaching and Learning. At which point he discuss the fact that the nature of the human self is paradoxical: for every gift or strength we possess, there is a corresponding weakness or liability so there is a good balance that can be seen this way. He also speaks about the fact that we as teachers need to embrace opposites and appreciate paradoxes. There are a few that he say that should be applied in out teaching and learning spaces are the space should be bounded and open, the space should be hospitable and "charged", and the space should welcome both silence and speech. He goes on to talk about the fact that community is very important in the classroom and the fact that to teach is to create a space in which the community of truth is practiced as well as truth being the eternal conversation about things that matter, conducted with passion and discipline.

Golden line:

Our task is to create enough safe spaces and trusting relationships within the academic workplace–hedged about by appropriate structural protections–that more of us will be able to tell the truth about our own struggles and joys as teachers in ways that befriend the soul and give it room to grow.

        Questions:

Is it more important to have a community in your class, or with the school community as a whole?

How should a teacher begin to explain to their students that they are trying to build a certain community in the classroom? Do you address it with the class at all? Does it just happen with practice?

How do you as a teacher figure out the king of community you would like to create in your classroom?

Strategies for creating community in classroom

1. Make Learning Relevant

2. Create a Classroom Code of Conduct

3. Teach Positive Actions

4. Instill Intrinsic Motivation

THE HEART OF A TEACHER Identity and Integrity in Teaching By PARKER J. PALMER Post #1

My Take away

 Few of the things that I learned from Parker Palmer's The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life is, if we want to grow as teachers, we must learn to talk to each other about our inner lives, our own identity and integrity. We must also be able to Identity lies in the intersection of the diverse forces that make up a life, while integrity lies in relating to those forces in ways that bring us wholeness and life. One of my favorite things that I learnt from the book is that Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique. The author also talks about the Culture of Fear: Education and the Disconnected Life and how knowing is a human way of seeking relationships, to have encounters and exchanges that will alter us.

 Golden line: 

“But in every story I have heard, good teachers share one trait: a strong sense of personal identity infuses their work” (pg.2).

Questions:

What happens when there is that one student you really cat connects with?

How does a new teacher begin to build community in the classroom from the first day?

How do we as teachers put out identity in the way that we approach our classroom without being too open?

 Strategies:  

Make sure students feel like they can approach you because it makes for a more welcoming learning environment.