- I am adding this post late due to inconsistencies with the website. I did send this post via email on its original due date.
I was really excited about last night’s topic because I had identified this discussion from the beginning of the semester as a matter of importance to me: Talking about the difficult topics with students. I really appreciated the worksheet that encouraged us to think outside of the content and forced us to reflect and evaluate our own strengths and weaknesses as an educator. Our topic was Thanksgiving, and until this assignment, I didn’t realize how much emotion and thoughts/opinions I would actually bring to the table and how that might affect the way I’d want to teach the content. I do wish that we would have had more of an opportunity for our groups to explore a variety of ‘heavy subject’ ideas rather than just one. I feel more prepared after our lesson to teach these big pieces but I also walked away feeling more nervous than when we started. I think I feel this way because even though I have been given the tools, I realize just how many things must be considered, and from so many angles. I do feel like we’re not going to get it right the first time, and maybe not even the second, but working through the parts that were good, and identifying the places where we went wrong, will be the best indicator of our success. What resonated with me the most, is the importance of relying on your team to guide one another through the hard parts. Use your resources!