Quotes worthwhile!

Question #2 Quotes Worthwhile!

"I want to be a leader in creating a place where each of you become more keenly aware of the possibilities in yourself, the people around you and the power of knowledge. In this place, I want us to find together a good way to live."

-Hello, classroom community! It is so important to me as a teacher to establish this thought with my students the moment they walk in the classroom. I want to create the place they feel comfortable, safe and reassured of their self worth. Yet, I also want my students to know that the respect that we all have for our classroom needs to be also for one another and for me as a teacher. I want to be able to lead my students but also be able to have my students come to me with their concerns with the way our classroom is being run.

"Our goal is to help each person and our class become as capable as possible."

Wow! This quote says to me that the teacher is place the power of the environment in the students hands. The responsibility to make sure that all students are successful and engage comes down to the students coaching themselves and their peer to succeed! This is so powerful and awesome!

"The energy level in the room is great as students talk with one another and the teacher about their ideas.."

I love that the teacher in the story notices the little things like allowing her student to stay in at lunch and work on their science projects with their peers. This allows the students share their hard work with their peers, have the freedom to move at their own rate, be successful on their own time and have the opportunity to communicate with their peers openly. Often times students during class time need to be quiet and hard working. A lot of students really want to share with their peers their ideas and success. Allowing for an open time at lunch for students to do this really boost their self esteem as well as keeps their focus during class time.

Creating Community in the Classroom: Sylvia Allan

Wow! What an awesome and inspiring person to have come visit us. I learned many things the day that Sylvia Allan came to visit our class and teach us about morning meetings and classroom communities. Some of the key points I pulled out of Sylvia's visit were that when students engage in a morning meeting they become 100% affective through out their school day. Morning meetings also help solve 90% of behavior problems. These two points about morning meeting made me realize just how important it is to give students the opportunity to build a community in their classroom. By allowing the students to hold and conduct the morning meeting it empowers them, builds their self esteem, their relationships with their peers and on top of everything promote all curriculum standards, literacy, oral language, critical thinking etc.

Some other points and things I want to remember from Sylvia's visit was the way she handled crying. "Would you like to share why you are crying or is it something that you would like to keep private and the rest of the class will focus on something else while you take a moment." This was so great to hear. What an empowering moment for a student caught in a vulnerable moment. This give the opportunity to acknowledge their feelings, let the class know that it's ok to have a moment of emotion, and promote express. I also love the statement Sylvia made about worksheets, they are to be used as assessments and never as a teaching tool! Absolutely, and if teachers would remember that then students would have a better learning experience.

Reflection #2

2a. What does the following phrase mean, and what you think about it? “…emotions trump learning.”

My thoughts on how emotions trump learning are that students are the priority. Their needs come before our teaching. We can not simply teach to a student unless we understand that student. We need to know about their background, their lives, their emotions, before they will be willing to learn from us as teacher. A student that is misunderstood is a student that is not willing to listen, learn or progress. Students must feel safe and secure before they can feel open to listening to someone teaching them. There fore the students emotions trump their ability to learn.