Some classes are good because of the instructor. While the instructor here was great, I think it was the students that made this such an enjoyable experience.
I would like to say thank you again to everyone, I have never looked forward to coming to a class as much as I have this class. I have faith that we will all take aspects of this class not only into our future classrooms but into our lives as well.
And to build briefly on what I said in closing last night, this class has shown me how to be an active participant in my brothers life and truly has changed the dynamic of our family ... it has been a very exciting journey.
Best of luck to everyone!
One last note! If anyone is interested I am walking in support of mental illness this weekend ... link is below. There is no set registration amount ... just a donation if you would like ... or your presence!
Ditto to what Michael and Rachel said. Great class, good times, lots of learning and growing. Good luck to everyone in their continuation in the MAT program. Hope to see you guys in another course. Thanks for the intellect. Keep it real.
Thanks to all for a great class. This was by far my favorite class of the semester and I feel like it was a personl growing experience. I definitely had to think and challenge myself in ways that I hadn't before. Thanks to all of you for making this class a great experience. Like I said in our final meeting, there are some bright stars here. I have faith that you will be great professsional educators, and will impact the lives of your students in the most positive of ways. Good luck to you all in your future classes, student teaching, parenthood, and marriages and engagements. Take care.
Tuesdays were long days for me; I would get off from work, take a bus to Athens Drive and be at the school for two hours before class. My options were to be 10 minutes late or two hours early for class. I never considered skipping or being late once....I think that says a lot about the class and the dynamic discussion we had.
This was probably one of the most frustrating classes for me because so much of what we discussed are issues that I am very passionate about, yet somehow I could never quite phrase what I wanted to say or have the courage to just step out and say it. Every night I went home with my brain on fire remembering things other people said, reciting things I should have said or did say and I wished I had said differently. I just get too emotional. I really appreciated the way the class presented much of what was said and that most of the time it was very cool and calm. I am still learning a good way to discuss many of these issues as I tend to take these things very personally, but being in the class was definitely beneficial for me to observe positive exchanges of ideas and view points. Thanks to everyone and I do feel like we are all going to be making a big difference in each of our classrooms because of who we are individually and also what we have learned from each other.
Alison's post makes me think of the fact that some of my students are going to be like she is, a little reluctant to participate in discussions until they can clarify their thoughts. If we are going to tackle "controversial" issues, which is probably inevitable in pursuing a social justice agenda in our teaching, we have to be aware that some students will jump right in with their opinions more or less fully formed, while others will need some percolating time. Perhaps a blog like this would be a good venue for continuing discussion past the class period and allow the more careful thinkers to participate more fully.
Yeah, I will echo what Michael said about the Blog. It is an effective tool when discussing difficult subjects. I will type mine in Word (so I don’t misspell) and the read it. That time rereading helps me formulate my thoughts into something hopefully meaningful and not reactionary. This was a great class, good current subjects and bright minds. I learned from everyone and hopefully will use this knowledge in my private and professional life. Thanks DG for your perspectives and patience. The energy that you bring to the class is amazing! Not what I had expected. If this is teaching in the 21st Century I am ready to go back and start over. Best of luck to everyone.
One thing that did not come up in this class is the classism alive and well and living among teachers everywhere. As I have seen it, it goes something like this. The higher the grade you teach, the more status you have. The more academic your class, the more status you have. 5th grade is better than 1st. AP English trumps PE. God Bless the K and 1 teachers, who many upper grade teachers envision are 'playing' all day... And also the PE teachers who teach our students what will be the most important lessons of their life, wellness. My challenge to all of us is to have respect for the teachers that put the students in your class and the work they do. Have equal respect for the elective teachers, whose class might be the respite that allows some students to survive your class. Treat each other with respect, the way you hope to be regarded
I guess I wanted to post a couple of activities that really made a few things click for me that I forgot to mention in the last class...
The week we discussed poverty, for one activity Dr. Greenfield had us split up according to the family style we lived in, professional being the highest of three categories. I felt so out of place as a part of the "upper" class and saw my self scooting toward the edge of the crowd, not wanting to think of myself as being considered the "privileged" group. While standing there and also thinking about this after class, the activity had made it pretty evident that the privileges I did have: both parents having a day-time job, able to buy food, the things we needed, and pay the mortgage without any major sacrifices, parents that were and still are willing and able to help me out financially family that is emotionally invested in my success...I didn't have a lot growing up, but I did have these things...and that is a lot, that is a place that a lot of kids don't get to start from. What seems normal or average is actually quite privileged.
And I think that even all came about because of the negative/resentful responses we were giving regarding how "rich" people live, and not even realizing how rich we all are in a way that we hadn't even acknowledged. Anyway, didn't want that to go unnoted because it was a really great way of splitting up the class, and I don't know if other people reflected on their category, but it made a point to me that was worth mentioning.
Hey, guys! I think I have the opposite problem of most people. In class (all classes), I tend to get nervous and antsy to the point that I just blurt stuff out without thinking. So instead of leaving class wondering, "Man, why didn't I share that?" I leave thinking, "Man, why DID I share that?" Even when I manage not to open my mouth in class, I still end up physically exhausted from mental fatigue afterwards.
alison, your comments here are very valuable, and I appreciate you sharing them here. I wish you would have spoken up because I bet it could have sparked some interesting discussion! But I feel you that it can be difficult. :)
Some classes are good because of the instructor. While the instructor here was great, I think it was the students that made this such an enjoyable experience.
ReplyDeleteI would like to say thank you again to everyone, I have never looked forward to coming to a class as much as I have this class. I have faith that we will all take aspects of this class not only into our future classrooms but into our lives as well.
ReplyDeleteAnd to build briefly on what I said in closing last night, this class has shown me how to be an active participant in my brothers life and truly has changed the dynamic of our family ... it has been a very exciting journey.
Best of luck to everyone!
One last note! If anyone is interested I am walking in support of mental illness this weekend ... link is below. There is no set registration amount ... just a donation if you would like ... or your presence!
http://www.nami.org/walkTemplate.cfm?Section=NAMIWALKS&Template=/customsource/namiwalks/walksitedetail.cfm&walksiteID=188
Ditto to what Michael and Rachel said. Great class, good times, lots of learning and growing. Good luck to everyone in their continuation in the MAT program. Hope to see you guys in another course. Thanks for the intellect. Keep it real.
ReplyDeleteThanks to all for a great class. This was by far my favorite class of the semester and I feel like it was a personl growing experience. I definitely had to think and challenge myself in ways that I hadn't before. Thanks to all of you for making this class a great experience. Like I said in our final meeting, there are some bright stars here. I have faith that you will be great professsional educators, and will impact the lives of your students in the most positive of ways. Good luck to you all in your future classes, student teaching, parenthood, and marriages and engagements. Take care.
ReplyDeletequick question, will we be getting feedback on the finals?
ReplyDeleteTuesdays were long days for me; I would get off from work, take a bus to Athens Drive and be at the school for two hours before class. My options were to be 10 minutes late or two hours early for class. I never considered skipping or being late once....I think that says a lot about the class and the dynamic discussion we had.
ReplyDeleteThis was probably one of the most frustrating classes for me because so much of what we discussed are issues that I am very passionate about, yet somehow I could never quite phrase what I wanted to say or have the courage to just step out and say it. Every night I went home with my brain on fire remembering things other people said, reciting things I should have said or did say and I wished I had said differently. I just get too emotional. I really appreciated the way the class presented much of what was said and that most of the time it was very cool and calm. I am still learning a good way to discuss many of these issues as I tend to take these things very personally, but being in the class was definitely beneficial for me to observe positive exchanges of ideas and view points. Thanks to everyone and I do feel like we are all going to be making a big difference in each of our classrooms because of who we are individually and also what we have learned from each other.
Saludos!(respectfully) Chok dee! (good luck!)
Alison's post makes me think of the fact that some of my students are going to be like she is, a little reluctant to participate in discussions until they can clarify their thoughts. If we are going to tackle "controversial" issues, which is probably inevitable in pursuing a social justice agenda in our teaching, we have to be aware that some students will jump right in with their opinions more or less fully formed, while others will need some percolating time. Perhaps a blog like this would be a good venue for continuing discussion past the class period and allow the more careful thinkers to participate more fully.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I will echo what Michael said about the Blog. It is an effective tool when discussing difficult subjects. I will type mine in Word (so I don’t misspell) and the read it. That time rereading helps me formulate my thoughts into something hopefully meaningful and not reactionary. This was a great class, good current subjects and bright minds. I learned from everyone and hopefully will use this knowledge in my private and professional life.
ReplyDeleteThanks DG for your perspectives and patience. The energy that you bring to the class is amazing! Not what I had expected. If this is teaching in the 21st Century I am ready to go back and start over.
Best of luck to everyone.
One thing that did not come up in this class is the classism alive and well and living among teachers everywhere. As I have seen it, it goes something like this. The higher the grade you teach, the more status you have. The more academic your class, the more status you have. 5th grade is better than 1st. AP English trumps PE. God Bless the K and 1 teachers, who many upper grade teachers envision are 'playing' all day... And also the PE teachers who teach our students what will be the most important lessons of their life, wellness. My challenge to all of us is to have respect for the teachers that put the students in your class and the work they do. Have equal respect for the elective teachers, whose class might be the respite that allows some students to survive your class. Treat each other with respect, the way you hope to be regarded
ReplyDeleteI guess I wanted to post a couple of activities that really made a few things click for me that I forgot to mention in the last class...
ReplyDeleteThe week we discussed poverty, for one activity Dr. Greenfield had us split up according to the family style we lived in, professional being the highest of three categories. I felt so out of place as a part of the "upper" class and saw my self scooting toward the edge of the crowd, not wanting to think of myself as being considered the "privileged" group. While standing there and also thinking about this after class, the activity had made it pretty evident that the privileges I did have: both parents having a day-time job, able to buy food, the things we needed, and pay the mortgage without any major sacrifices, parents that were and still are willing and able to help me out financially family that is emotionally invested in my success...I didn't have a lot growing up, but I did have these things...and that is a lot, that is a place that a lot of kids don't get to start from. What seems normal or average is actually quite privileged.
And I think that even all came about because of the negative/resentful responses we were giving regarding how "rich" people live, and not even realizing how rich we all are in a way that we hadn't even acknowledged. Anyway, didn't want that to go unnoted because it was a really great way of splitting up the class, and I don't know if other people reflected on their category, but it made a point to me that was worth mentioning.
Hey, guys! I think I have the opposite problem of most people. In class (all classes), I tend to get nervous and antsy to the point that I just blurt stuff out without thinking. So instead of leaving class wondering, "Man, why didn't I share that?" I leave thinking, "Man, why DID I share that?" Even when I manage not to open my mouth in class, I still end up physically exhausted from mental fatigue afterwards.
ReplyDeletealison, your comments here are very valuable, and I appreciate you sharing them here. I wish you would have spoken up because I bet it could have sparked some interesting discussion! But I feel you that it can be difficult. :)