Evans, Hill, and all

Wk 12

I think that Hill has hit the nail on the head so to speak. If we are to be granted the privilege to teach the children of a neighborhood then we must involve the members of the neighborhood. I have been reading “Waiting for “Superman”” and this issue is also addressed there. We must be trusted, reliable member of the community of our children’s lives in order to be able to teach the children. I intend to have a classroom mission and vision. I think that it grants accountability when these are placed in writing. I intend to involve any who want to be involved.

Hill demonstrates how lucky we are to live in an age where we have sooo much access to so many different technologies. Everything from paper and pencil to films complete with sound track. How could we not find something for every child to excel at? I appreciate the idea of each student producing one major project in which we can embed many, many lessons as opposed to producing many, many little lessons that are not necessarily real world connected. This just seems to me to be less of a contrived environment and a more sound learning environment. Evans also refers to this idea of extending of a lesson by recreating a text in a different mode.

“The Silent Stage” stresses the importance of us as teachers being willing to involve our students in the process of their learning. “I needed the system to meet me half way, to collaborate, to include my thoughts and feelings” (p.16). If we are to be granted the privilege of being allowed to influence a student we must first respect their right to learn about what they are interested in, what stimulates them.