It's been...hmmmm forever since I've posted absolutely anything on the ol' blogosphere, but I thought it would be fun to share with you the reflections I've been required to do for my Masters in Teaching program. Feel free to peruse my old stuffs as well, circa 2011, but keep in mind that I may be changing the site a little and gearing it more towards all the teachery things that I love to do! <3 <3
Soooo here's the first reflection I'd like to post, and maybe I'll put in earlier ones maybe I won't... who knows? Anyway, thanks for reading, and as always <3 and lattes!
A reflection is an interesting thing. The ability to
remember one’s experiences, hypothetically alter those experiences and/or
reason through a solution, and then gain new knowledge all from experiences
that only happened because we perceive they happened is absolutely,
confoundedly incredible. If we didn’t have the gift of language, would we be
able to remember experiences so vividly? Our knowledge is passed through
stories, pictures, documented events, and now spread even more quickly through
the use of social media and the age of technology. The sheer, unfathomable,
amount of information that makes up all of our combined experiences creates a
sense of wonderment and trepidation. Information,
understanding, reflection, new experiences, all come together to create a part
of the human experience that (as far as we know right now) is uniquely
ours. So, what does this all mean?
Have you ever read Hitchhiker’s
Guide to the Galaxy? In one of the chapters (spoiler alert) the main
character finds the answer to the Question of Life, the Universe, and
Everything, yet, the answer makes absolutely no sense! The “answer” is only
found by the main character in some happenstance game of Scrabble where he does
not in fact ask any sort of question. It makes obvious sense that without a
question for which to pose, the answer has no meaning right?
So what does this all lead up to? What is my “takeaway” or
reflection for the week? Well, honestly, I feel that I am less so filled with
new knowledge than brimming with burning questions, and, as of right now, my
big daddy of them all is this:
Out of all of this information
“stuff” that we (humans) have come to collect, how do we determine a) what is
the most relevant, and b) how do we pass that knowledge on to other beings
while understanding that their world experience will undoubtedly be entirely
different from our own?
For teachers, this is our life source, our bread and butter.
How do we teach students that already have all of the information, the ones who
already know that the answer is 42? How do we know what questions are really
those “essential questions” that Understanding by Design speaks to? As a
student teacher, in the process of honing and fine-tuning my craft, how am I
sure that I am not simply restating information students might already know? Am
I being relevant? Am I truly understanding the big picture of what it means to learn?
The more I write, the more questions begin to spawn all over
the page. I apologize, and will make an attempt at closing the open-ended
hodgepodge of thoughts that make up my reflection for this week. I still need
something to leave with, so I suppose I will leave with this. Our Masters
program instills in us the fact that educators are lifelong learners, and, as a
beginning educator/continuing learner how am I able to absorb the constructive
feedback (information) from my mentors, teachers, advisors, etc. and use that
information in a way that makes sense for my perceptions? In essence, how can I
be given the answers, or feedback in this case, and then ask myself essential
questions and perform the necessary actions in the classroom, in order to
create for an effective learning experience for my students as well as myself?
