This goes along with my first blog entry...

Wow, I really need to read and follow directions.... duh
Ok, so my first blog "ever" was my first thoughts about the class. As I read over my To do list, I realized that I was supposed to discuss the following in my first blog... here goes.

I wanted to become a teacher because I had wonderful teachers and mentors growing up as a student. I also enjoy seeing the spark of student's minds, and the progress they make while learning. It is really rewarding to witness, and realize what an impact and sometimes influence all teachers and adults have who are involved in student's lives.

Hmm... my greatest strengths in teacher.... Honestly I'm still trying to identify my greatest strengths as a teacher. I realize I have a long way to go to be satisfied with the answer to this question. I do feel comfortable teaching all Language Arts components and sub topics within. This may stem from enjoying reading so much when I was younger. I also have diverse teaching experiences especially in my current teaching positions and that makes me comfortable in any teaching environment. I believe I can grow in all areas of teaching. That's the great thing about education is that you never stop learning, and getting different perspectives on what I'm already doing is beneficial. I do tend to be fickle in my lessons. If I decide what I'm going to teach a few weeks before I teach it, I tend to change my mind and I'll want to do something different instead. So my weaknesses are to trust what I plan and go with it. If it's a flop, I get a second chance another day to reteach in a different way, but I do get worried when I find that some lessons are not successful. I decide how to teach required content by seeing what goals I want to achieve and what standards are incorporated with these objectives. I'll refer to texts, and write out my plans and think about what I want to do for my pre-assessments,and go from there. I enjoy discussions and interacting verbally or do an activity to see how the students are thinking, what they are thinking and then I ask them a question or give them a topic to discuss with me. It sparks their prior knowledge and go from there. I almost always incorporate a story, or point out a section of text that will be part of our discussions.