First Experiences: Best & Worst

Research demonstrates that regardless of how many methods classes a preservice teacher takes, the thing that will most influence how a teacher teaches is how they were taught. Your experiences as a student will, for much of your career, outweigh your experiences as a teacher. And that's not a bad thing. It's something to hold on too. 

WHAT TO POST
Thus, to begin our time together, we should start at the very beginning, with a brief reflection on your student experiences. In roughly 200-300 words, post a story about either a best or worst class experience. Rather than just report the experience, make sure to try to identify what about it made it a best or worst experience. 

AFTER YOU POST
Take some time to read what your classmates have to say. Don't skip this step.

IN YOUR SMALL GROUP
Discuss what you've read from your colleagues in small break out groups and develop a short summary of the qualities of an excellent classroom experience and, of course, the opposite of that, what seems to be the qualities of a bad classroom experience. 

Over the course of the summer, we will develop our ideas, see how they fit into a wider discussion of theory and literacy pedagogy. This is a first step towards completing one of the major assignments of the semester: The Assignment Design.

I look forward to reading and responding to your work here. 

HOW TO POST
Click on the "comment" button located at either the top right or bottom left of this post. Fill in the form as required and post  in the dialogue box. You might want to compose in another program so nothing gets lost. Once you've finished, click submit.