Throughout this class, I have mentioned several times that I have been in the classroom for 20 years. I honestly came into this class with a skeptic's mind thinking with the accelerated format I wouldn’t be learning much that I could readily apply. I would say that my first ‘ah-ha’ moment happened when we wrote about the educational theorists. It was nice to be reminded about the theories surrounding education and all of the hard work premier educators, psychologists and reformers put into forming the profession I care so deeply for. After so many years, teaching tends to come as a second nature and you often forget where the roots of our educational system come from. My second light bulb moment came when we got further into the DF’s and I learned quite a bit about in the realm of special education that is so lightly brushed upon to general education teachers from Ash, for instance FAPE laws. Furthermore, I learned so much from Luanne about educational systems in other countries, in her case Germany. I feel like as a society we compare ourselves so much against China and other countries that we compete with, we don’t really look at countries outside of those same few very much. My fourth moment came when learning from Ellen about being in the grade school or elementary level classrooms. I’m always so amazed at how creative, patient and organized elementary teachers are! Elementary teachers have a special place among the saints. Lastly, I really appreciated reading and connecting with others in our field and acknowledging other opinions and approaches that differed from mine.
It has been several years since I sat down and formally created an in-depth lesson plan of that nature that took up the bulk of the class. Getting back into the detail and examining my approach to lesson planning was such a valuable experience, even for an old dog like me. I also wholeheartedly appreciate the lively banter of our professor in both his discussion posts and replies, as well as his humorous announcements and emails. It was truly a great experience going back to school after all these years and “virtually” meeting that guy. Sometimes God puts the right people in your life at the right time. To have that passion for education after 48 years is amazingly refreshing. It was truly a pleasure going through this experience alongside my former student and best friend, Scott. Over the years, we have found ourselves engaged in many conversations revolving around the educational realm. Through this course, we have gained several variations of insights from classmates and our professor, that I can’t wait to see how it adds to our upcoming conversations. This class was a nice refresher and prepared me for my leadership course that I hope to introduce to our athletic captains in the fall - COVID-19 permitting anyways!
Comentarios