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"I kept asking myself why I was losing confidence in these reforms. My answer: I have a right to change my mind. Fair enough. But why, I kept wondering, why had I changed my mind? What was the compelling evidence that prompted me to reevaluate the policies I had endorsed many times over the previous decade? Why did I now doubt ideas I once had advocated?"
-This quote helped me to identify with the author and made me respect her opinions. This showed me that she is able to reflect and grow. She is able to look within herself and look at the reforms that may have made her question her believes and determine if they are valid.
“Schools that failed to perform would be closed, just as a corporation would close a branch office that continually produced poor returns. Having been immersed in a world of true believers, I was influenced by their ideas.”
-I liked how the author was able to recognize that her opinions may have changed because she was being influenced by the people she surrounded herself with. It’s important to remember that you don’t have to share the same opinions or beliefs as your peers and research topics on your own.
-A well-educated person should be able to reflect and listen to other points of view. One should research subject matter and not come to conclusions quickly. I believe that it is important to educate yourself about the important issues in your community and be proactive.
I think it is important that as we continue on with our education and career’s we reflect on our believes, how we view other teachers, and how we treat our students. It is important that we don’t get to wrapped up in ourselves and to remember why we became teachers in the first place. Let’s help to fix the education system and not just complain about it.
One gap in my subject area is how to make learning to read fun for all students.
website: http://www.pbs.org/launchingreaders/
article: Encouraging Recreational Reading in the Elementary Grades by Pat Blaisdell, Jennifer De Young, Sandy Hutchinson, and Susan Pedersen.
book: Teaching Every Child to Read: Innovative and Practical Strategies for K-8 Educators and Caretakers by Rita Dunn, Elizabeth Brett.
-It is going to be important to work closely with parents and encourage them to help their children learn to read and write. I found this website that I think clearly shows how they can do this and will help me provide the parents with strategies and advice.
Chang, Mido. (2008) Teacher Instructional Practices and Language Minority Students: A Longitudinal Model. Journal of Educational Research, v102 n2 p83-97 Nov-Dec 2008.
-Reading this article I learned that students’ need to reach a level at which they can freely communicate themselves before being forced to participate in a small group discussion so not to make them feel inferior. This article helped me because when I assign students in their small groups I will need to make sure I put them with people they work well with.
Ross, Sarah G. Begeny John C. IMPROVING LATINO, ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS' READING FLUENCY: THE EFFECTS OF SMALL-GROUP AND ONE-ON-ONE INTERVENTION. 2011 Wiley Periodical, Inc.
-I learned from reading this article that small groups can be more beneficial then 1/1 instruction and small groups help to keep the students motivated and engaged. This helped me with my research because it showed me that having small groups in my classroom will be beneficial.
-As I continue on with my research I will find other research articles from these authors.
Heather,
ReplyDeleteI was thinking after our conversation last week that if you wanted to focus on instructional strategies for your project, you could always turn your Wiki site into a research portal for other teachers...just an idea.
Keep me posted as to how your research unfolds.
Molly