Learning Letter

This has been such an enjoyable class, but even more than that, I have learned so much from it. The content we studied, beginning with "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" was very rich with information that can be applied in education, but was also something I could relate to for other classes such as Government. I found the theories discussed in the chapters we read fell in line with oppressive situations of groups, as well as individual oppression. The handout "Discussion as a Way of Teaching" was full of information I will use in the classroom. It is my sincere hope and desire to create a classroom where students feel comfortable in discussions and know their opinions and questions are heard and valued. I will readily admit I didn't really know how to do that, and I still don't, but at least I've learned something of it and what to shoot for. I got so much valuable information from the book talks. In fact, I now have many of those books listed as my summer reading. It was great to get the handouts that went along with them and will be a good reference in the future. My own book was A Long Way Gone and it was a very powerful read for me. I remember hearing about these boys at the time and it was something I couldn't even imagine. I plan to collect all of these books and have them on hand in the classroom. Preparing for the mini-lesson was kind of nerve wracking for me. Presenting in front a professor and a room full of education students was definitely intimidating. It was very helpful that Dr. Agriss had told us from the beginning of the class that teaching is a collaborative effort and we'd find much information on-line to help us. My lesson was on Night by Elie Wiesel and I chose to focus on the systematic discrimination and persecution of the Jews, as well as the grooming of the general German population to accept the treatment of the Jews, by the Nazi party in the 1930's before the outbreak of World War II. It was very helpful to find the site where I gleaned much of my information, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. When I gave my presentation the classroom was very cooperative and very supportive, but the feedback for what went well and what needed improvement was especially valuable to me. It was actually a really fun experience and confirmed my choice for my future career. I also must say I so enjoyed the other student's mini-lessons. It was very helpful for me to see all the different methods the others used to teach their lessons. Some of the students were so competent at leading a discussion, for example, and very successful at applying some of the things we learned in our handout "Discussion as a Way of Teaching". Others used group work in ways I hadn't heard of before and I found that very interesting. For instance "jigsaw" group work is something I was not familiar with. Finally our three-week unit plan, that required so much of our time and effort this quarter was an enormous learning experience. At the beginning of the quarter I'd never heard of the Common Core Standards and by the time I had written all fifteen TPA's I had become fairly familiar with it. I attempted to incorporate some of the techniques mentioned in Tovani's I Read It, But I Don't Get It. I have a lot to learn about creating a really good TPA, but I came a long way in this lesson. In fact the entire unit plan I put together is something I really look forward to doing. I don't know, as I said in my self-evaluation, if my timing is right or off and I'm sure quite a few other things will need to be changed as my education continues, but I am so glad I was given the opportunity to tackle it now. It was a lot of work, but it was great!