Buy one, get many more!

I think one of the things I like most about the idea of being a teacher is the idea that "teacher" does not mean one job, but it means many jobs.

I'm sitting here staring at a chart that explains the many roles of a teacher during language arts instruction - organizer, facilitator, participant, instructor, model, manager, diagnostician, evaluator, coordinator, and communicator. Just reading the list is a little overwhelming, but exciting at the same time.

I think this list and others like it help me to realize the importance of every teacher I've had, and my importance as a future teacher. I'm will not simply be an adult standing in front of a class trying to teach, but I will go through an entire process of getting students ready to learn, helping them learn and interact, and assessing and encouraging them along the way.

I believe that one of the most important roles on this list is "participant." This also goes along with the role of "model." It makes me realize that I will be a student all of my life - even as a teacher I will still be a student. I remember my 5th grade teacher (amazing woman) would always remind us that she never asked us to do anything that she hadn't done herself. She would then either work on a project together with us, or show us her filled out worksheet or activity. This effort on my teacher's part to show us the work she put into our lessons gave me a true respect for her. I want my future students to understand that I'm working with them through this learning process.

Of course, all the roles of a teacher are important, and I'm beginning to understand that it is going to take a lot of work and effort to really influence these children in a positive way, but I am looking forward to it.

An Effective Community

"In order to have an affect on someone else, you must first allow him to effect you." -Ralph Fletcher

This quote is the one quote from the video that really stuck out to me. However, it stuck out to me because I had a hard time understanding it or even believing it to be true. Why would someone have to affect me before I could affect them, because if that's the case then no one would ever be affected because before they could affect me I would have to affect them but then I couldn't do that until they affected me...whew. I think I've finally got it figured out, though.

While creating and developing a writing community I need to get to know my students. It is important to understand their interests (in the world and in writing) and the things they dislike. I need to let who they are affect me. Once I have an understanding of an individual, I can better assist in helping that child through the writing process. If I don't let the child affect me first, I will be of no help to them as I don't understand them or where they're coming from.

In a teaching community it's much the same idea. I need to understand who my students are and where they are in life. I need to let their personality sink in. Once I have done this, I will be a more effective teacher. The more I know my students, the more I let them talk to me and give me their opinion, the more I can incorporate these things into my teaching and gain their attention and have a great impact on their learning.

So maybe the concept isn't as impossible or as confusing as I first believed it to be.

Worthy

If I wanted to sum this post up in one sentence I would simply tell you that writing is worth reading if the reader wants to read it. However, the more I think about that statement, the less I find it to be true. In my opinion, if the reader likes the writing, then it was worth reading, but if the reader does not like the writing it doesn't mean the writing wasn't worth reading (how's that for a weird sentence).

I think a pleasant piece of prose is something obviously worth reading. Some may argue that to them a story is trash and not worth reading - but to the reader who finds it entertaining or enjoyable the story is worth it - so in this case, "worthy" is a relative term.

As I was writing the first sentence of this post I was reminded of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of my favorite books of all time. However, as I was forced to read it in the tenth grade with my overly pessimistic English teacher, I hated the book. Alright, I loved it once they found Gatsby in the pool and also, for some strange reason, I think I could read the last page of that book over and over and still get the same emotional reaction. So I hated the experience of reading that book, but it was worth it. I had the same experience reading The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. However, there was never a moment in that story that I decided I actually liked it; it wasn't until I came to college and was asked to read it again that I began to understand and value it's message.

I hope this is making sense. There have been too many times that I believed I was being tortured as I read word after word on a page in a book, but in the end I found many of these experiences worth my time. Now the question is, why were these stories worth my time? I believe it's because they have a deeper meaning in them to which I can relate. No, I cannot directly relate my life to The Great Gatsby or The Scarlett Letter, but I can take major themes and apply them to my life.

Not to be cheesy, but it's as if the writing is inspiring, or gives me hope, or just tells me I'm not crazy for feeling the way I feel - I can take more from it than simply a story, and that's something worth reading.

I lied to my kindergarten teacher...

My dad told me this story when I was in 4th grade and had to write a biography about myself - I asked him for a funny story, and after rejecting the "you were dropped on your head as a baby" story, I received this one. Once upon a time when I was five, I started kindergarten and I was very excited. A few weeks after school began (or maybe it was only a week, I don't know) my parents came in for a parent-teacher conference. The meeting was all fine and dandy until my teacher mentioned something about me learning to read (sorry, I wasn't there and don't know specifics). My dad looked at the teacher confused and replied, "Learn how to read? Kris already knows how to read - she's been reading for months!" From that point on I was no longer allowed to pretend I couldn't read and was forced to read one-on-one with my teacher during nap time. The end.

I remember learning to read by sitting on my dad's lap and going through Hooked On Phonics. As for anything else having to do with language - I do not know. Honestly, I hardly remember Hooked On Phonics. I remember each level had a different color and I never made it to the last level. I'm honestly very sorry, but I don't remember much about learning language. I remember speech therapy when the therapist told me not to put my tongue between my teeth when I said "sss," and I remember in the 5th grade illustrating being "in a pickle" with two different pictures for two different meanings (my picture was in the newspaper and it filled up a fourth of the page - I was excited).

I'm not entirely sure how this impacts me as a student learner. Obviously, I am taking my knowledge and putting it into every day practice, but I'm not entirely sure how it got there.

Maybe what I should take from this is that I should make the experience more memorable for my students. I'm not entirely sure how important it is to remember the process of learning something, but now I'm confused has to how I ever learned anything at all. I think I take for granted the fact that the knowledge is now just a part of me. I want my students to enjoy the process of learning language and to gain some sort of memorable experience that will stick with them, and an experiences that helps them to learn at the same time. They should have a better language story than being a sinful five year old.