Shor Extended Comments !

For my final post I noticed that a lot of people already had their blogs up, after reading a few of them I felt that everything that I wanted to say in my blog was pretty much already mentioned by everyone else so I thought that an extended comments post would suit nicely. So for my extended comments I decided to base my post off of Jaclyn's blog because I really agreed with everything she had to say this week and the things she brings up in her blog were points that I too wanted to make in mine. So here we go !

One of the first things Jaclyn mentions is Shor describing that students should question why they are at school in the first place. "You must arouse children's curiosity and make them think about school. For example, it's very important to begin the school year with a discussion of why we go to school"

(11). This is a wonderful statement that I've never really thought about. Throughout my entire schooling career I don't think a teacher has ever started off the year by discussing the purpose of school. I mean of course we all knew we had to go, but why? In Jaclyn's blog she includes the passage from page 11 that concludes the above quote, "This would set a questioning tone and show the children that you trust them and that they are intelligent enough at their own level, to investigate and come up with answers” (11). This quote perfectly explains why the above mentioned discussion is so important to have with students at the beginning of the year. If as a teacher, you can establish that relationship with your students right off the bat I'm sure that the year runs a lot more smoothly if they know what you trust them and believe in them. 

The next quote Jaclyn pulls from the Shor reading is “If the students’ task is to memorize rules and existing knowledge without questioning the subject matter or the learning process, their potential for critical thought and action will be restricted” (12). Jaclyn connects this quote to the in class assignment that we all did a few weeks ago. Which is exactly what I connected it to while I was reading as well. Jaclyn writes "We all simply took the paper and wrote down as many answers as we could find, assuming that we read the article, knew what it was about and went to it. None of us questioned why we were answering the questions, or thought the questions were irrelevant while finishing the assignment."

Everything Jaclyn writes is true, I didn't question at all why I was being forced to answer so many random and somewhat stupid and irrelevant questions about the article. And in fact after having the class discussion I was practically shocked that I even had the option to question that worksheet and not answer the questions. Who knows, maybe if I had more teachers explain why we go to school to me like Shor states on page 11 then maybe I would have known better than to just sit and quietly fill in a worksheet. 

So with all that said, I think Jaclyn did an awesome job on her post this week and I was so glad it inspired mine. Jacklyn wrapped up her blog post this week by saying "This past semester has truly prepared me to take the next step on the path to becoming a teacher." Once again, I couldn't agree more. I guess you could say I felt rather ill prepared for becoming a teacher before this semester. But after this class I don't feel that way anymore. This class has provided me with numerous "tools in my tool-belt of teaching" that I can use throughout my future.

The lessons I've learned in this class will follow me throughout my entire career and I truly believe that this class has definitely helped me feel ready to move on towards the path of becoming an educator.

Throughout this semester one of my favorite parts of the blog each week has been putting in a video or a link at the end of each post. For my last link I figured this Buzzfeed Article would be most appropriate to leave off on. I hope each and every one of us becomes a teacher like the ones described on Buzzfeed ! :) .


So thanks to all of you for reading each week and being a part of this amazing class throughout the semester and to Dr. Bogad for being a fantastic professor! I wish you all the best of luck in the future, and hopefully we'll see each other around campus ! :)