Month: January 2019

There were two highlights of this class for me, one was the literature circle, and one was the concept of teaching content through these strategies. The literature circle was such a fun reminder of how much I love to discuss books and reading with others, especially with people who have actually dedicated time to thinking through some talking points and opinions, which my group had. I really could envision how beneficial a literature circle could be even for young students, as it really builds your confidence to learn that your insight and views about a text are valid and worth expressing, and I think that the lit circle roles help with that realization. The roles provide a structure and guideline to help understand how to look deeper into a text, and how to pull out relevant or interesting pieces. It also empowers people to look into and speak about aspects of the text they may not typically have the confidence to but making them the “expert” of that aspect. Having only discussed literature in this way as an adult in college, I feel that I would have been more confident and better equipped to express my voice if I had grown up practicing it on simpler texts.

My second main take away goes back to my first reflection, when I discussed the importance of integration. This class emphasized that again, with the idea that one should use all these strategies to analyze a primary source and to make inferences and big picture claims in order to teach the content. It is not only a two for one deal in that way, but it also teaches students that there are many approaches to content, and that there are a wide variety of reasons and end goals one has when accessing content.

A concept that really drew my attention during this class was the idea of front-loading. For something that seems to make so much sense, and be truly common sense, I was surprised to find from my Google search that for some this idea is still controversial. Front-loading seems to be a crucial element to students success not only for literacy, but also for almost any subject or situation you could think of. I feel that front-loading naturally resonates with me as a special education teacher because this is such a natural and important part of our instruction. I would never introduce a concept, materials, experience, or even a new location without providing a foundation of information and visual or auditory supports before hand.

This train of thought brings to mind the idea that the best practice supports for students that require additional help due to disabilities, are really just best practice supports for all students. It seems as if although teachers do learn this about differentiation, the fear of taking too long to teach something and falling behind on pacing is preventing them from implementing them in a general education setting. Shifting from the “traditional” way of teaching that many teachers have been raised on to one that incorporates more research backed strategies that may take more time initially, requires a leap of faith, and some guts on the teachers part. I think that as new teachers come into schools and model these strategies that they have learned, others will see their success and follow suit.

My expectations for myself in this course start with actively tapping into my prior knowledge and experiences related to Social Studies instruction during class. This applies to not only the knowledge I have acquired in my TLP experience so far, but also as a commitment to build my knowledge before coming to class with the assigned readings and videos. It is vital for everyone in the class to come in with the same preparation and level of understanding to ensure that we are able to move at the pace expected. This should be paired with a willingness and openness to learn from my fellow students, as well as the instructors.

My other main expectation for myself is to truly embrace the concept of integration, and to be using it as a backdrop for everything I learn in this class. The idea that all the strategies, concepts, and information I learn this semester should be applied in tandem to one another, as well as generalized to other subjects and situations.

My expectations for the instructors is for them to maximize my time in class by choosing activities and topics of instruction that will be directly useful in the classroom. I also expect the information to be up to date and applicable to the newest teaching approaches.