Reflections

My Musings and Reflections
Something Learned 10/19

I have had both good and bad experiences with learning. I had an experience in my Social Studies methods class that I will never forget. The teacher told us we would spend the semester working on an inquiry project. I had no idea of what he was talking about. So he worked on trying to explain it tome this way. He asked me to tell him about something I was interested in or wanted to know more about. I was confused. Why would research have anything to do with what I was interested in. 3 weeks went by and I still did not understand the assignment. I talked to the instructor each week after class asking him to just tell me what he wanted me to research. He kept telling me, whatever I wanted to. I had never experienced a research assignment in which I would be able to choose the topic. I was stumped on what I should choose. I was interested in so many things. Which topic would the instructor want me to choose. I was so used to writing papers to please instructors that I never realized that I could actually research something I was interested in. I struggled through that class and eventually chose to research the topic of bread.(Don't ask me why) I was nervous, uneasy, out of my comfort zone in unknown territory of thinking. Towards the very end of the class I finally had my light bulb moment. Letting students choose their own interersts in topics gets them more invested in the research and the writing becomes meaningful.


 * Increase Practice**

I want to have my students interact with each other through their writing by using technology. I want them to understand that your writing needs to change with you audience and there are many different audiences we can share our writing with. I also need to make a conscious effort to implement these ideas and share them with other teachers What can I do Monday? Next week? A month from now?