While reviewing pictures from Houdini's visit,
your Chautuaqua characters and Apache students, I realized we did alot this semester. Lots of variety in our practiticum experience
with students, developing our own characters, trying to make practical sense from the text book theory, and our own time for
a little book discussion on the side.
I hope this semester has been fulfilling for you. Watching you with your
Apache students on May 8 was also rewarding. You contributed a great deal to their learning and connected with them on a special
level. I hope you also enjoyed meeting their parents and sharing how much you enjoyed working with their child.
From reading your own reflection, the most valuable time of all was your
work with your Apache students. You connected with them and learned from them in extraordinary ways. They stretched
you in diferent ways. Referring to yourselves as educationalists will set the trend in motion now. Let's see how
long it will be before teachers start using the term!
The time you spent conversing and dialoging about your Apache students
in your debriefing time, usually surrounded by food, was seen as an important time to learn from and share with each other.
I will remember the necessity and significance of this follow-up time.
Performing your own Chautauqua characters on March 13 was an empowering
act and creative process of which I am proud of you all. I will carry your characters' stories with me and when I see you
I will also recognize your characters within. I am sorry we did not have time for us to tape our characters. I
think they would have been more seasoned over time.
I have enjoyed connecting with all of you in very special ways and look
forward to more learning experiencing in future courses and in student teaching.
Thank you for your suggestions which I will include in future semesters
which will be to:
1. visit bilingual & ELL/ESL classroom settings;
2. provide more informal feedback on characters and progress; 3. provide
student contact list for communication purposes.
4. You all emphasized how valuable working with your 4th grade partners
was to your learning experience.
5. The course text content was valuable to your background knowledge.
My 5 Dimensions of Learning reflection continues:
Confidence
& Independence:
For
those taking the TESOL NMTA this June, this will be a way to confirm our understanding of our course content. However, I think
our Apache experience, what have learned from our text, and your linguistics class from SJC will provide a solid foundation.
I f you want to get together to study in preparation, please let me know.
Charlotte Bradshaw also is our mentor who you can rely on for support
beyond this course. Mrs. Bradshaw is an important part of this course and it is a great opportunity for us to work with Apache
school and her 4th graders.
Skills &
Strategies:
Chautauqua, literature circles, writing workshop-process
writing are strategies emphasized and practiced during this semester in practical ways. If you experience these and gain familiarity
with them, they will transfer into your own teaching practice. Remember how important stories are in the cognitive and social
life of all of us. Use students' stories as the basis for their learning and there will be no limit to their achievement.
Knowledge
Content:
We explored the text through open discussions
a little more this semester, although we could have had more open discussion about the content of what you read.
Practicum experience with the 4th graders provided us with an authentic learning setting to apply theory in an actual
learning setting.
Please consider our course blog as a reference and
resource source in the future.
Your web pages are your own design and considered
your intellectual property. In this way, I hope you will take charge of your own learning as it documents your own learning.
I hope you do refer to your own pages and use it for professional development. Add your webpage URL to your
resume.
Use of Prior
Experience:
We honored our stories this semester. As poet
James Baldwin said: "Know from whence you came. If you know from whence you came there really is no limit to where you
can go." Please remember the power of stories and storytelling as content, context and process in teaching.
Reflection:
"Experience without reflection is hollow"
as Cooper & Collins (1992) In Look What Happened to Frog.
Reflection is a pedagogical tool of our profession.
In this particular course we will scratch the surface of what it is like working with diverse children. Since language is
not neutral, by association it begs us to consider politics, culture, social controls, privilege, class, race issues, all
of which are initially uneasy to talk about in our society. However, they are a loud reality in our schools. As educationalists,
we must begin to enter this discussion and become more informed ourselves in the dialogue and consider our perspective as
well as those who are contributing also to this discussion so we do not shy away from it but approach it with open and searching
minds.
Your weekly reflections captured how
the process was working for the students and how you plannned next steps leading them to the eventual performance
on May 8.
Thank you for trusting me in the process of
your Chautauqua storytelling, for it is a creative process. I hope this process has energized you and given you special insight
and connection with your Apache students. I was also able to experience the magic of Chautauqua, the practical of preparing
for working with students and the sublime of watching Apache students perfom. I am happy to say that I learned along
side you this semester. Thank you for such an experiential and satisfying semester.
Guest
speakers:
Vicki Bruno, a communication specialist teaching
deaf students in Bloomfield provided valuable information on hearing children as well as deaf children. Social researcher
Laura McClenny's presentation about
her research with teen perception and drinking had connections in gathering authentic data as educators. It was also
a reminder that as teachers we must keep our own perceptions in check and balanced with being able to read children
and adults. Talking, questioning, interviewing and knowing students and their families are means to help provide a more accurate
interpretation instead of just relying on our genrally biased perceptions.
Thank you for the gifts of you, your stories, our stories, and our opportunities
for learning together. We were a community of educationalists who had fun learning together!
Frances Vitali
May 13, 2008
