Things I Have Learned

Through this RSS and blog project, I have learned about multiple ways to help teach reading and literacy.  Some of these things were electronic, with varying levels of ability and able to track progress and print reports, but some others were just about getting back to basics and the power of everyday materials. In some schools, reading is incorporated into all classes and eliminated as an individual subject.  All of these advances are to try to improve students reading scores in a variety of ways, utilizing multiple intelligences and trying to find something that works for them. I wonder if this boom in reading technology has to do with NCLB and trying to raise scores…

 

Something I have learned overall this semester, through this class and my other education classes, is that I am more cut out to teach at the college level.  It’s not that I think making lesson plans are too hard, or too much work, but my teaching style is as a facilitator.  And with NCLB, most teachers feel they are teaching to a test.  Well, with what I want to teach, that wouldn’t be measured on the test.  I don’t want the stress of wanting to teach one way, but being forced to teach another because of the test.  Also, I want to teach more in a specific content area, just literature and not have to go over grammar and stuff like that.  I want to be able to help students really dive in to a text and argue over it, then assess them how I want to.  It might sound kind of whiny, but I don’t want to have to yell at my students to get their attention and deal with discipline problems.  I’m not a confrontational person.  But I don’t think my education classes were a waste because I learned so much that I can apply in a college class, too.  I guess it’s better I figured this out now instead of when I am student teaching.