Random thoughts

Okay, this blog is kind of cheating because it isn't really about teaching Junior high, but teaching and more so, learning in general. It's funny because it's been about 3 years since I got my master's degree in Educational Technology. That program changed my view of education and really changed my ideas of what it means to be a teacher. Since then, I had one great year where I really go to try out all of my ideas, and then one year where I had to completely pull back on everything I believed because of the views of my administration.

Last year was different. Last year, I moved into a new grade level with entirely new people, no technology and a curriculum I didn't know. Last year, honestly, I didn't try to teach the way I really want to. This year, I will make changes that will help me to see how technology can help 8th graders to learn more. I want to be constructivist in my approach-to a degree. Perhaps I'm not a real convert, because I believe that no matter how much a kid says they don't want to read, it's important that they do. My job, then, becomes to find the books that will make reading interesting and stimulating to my students. I got sick of hearing students say reading is boring last year. I disagree, or I wouldn't have become an English teacher.

The funny thing is, even some of the most stubborn non-readers got interested in certain things that we read together: The Monkey's Paw, Flowers for Algernon, Tell-Tale Heart. This is telling for me. It says that while students enjoy the stories, they don't want to do the work of reading them on their own. Those stories we read together, and honestly, students didn't have to exert that much effort in order to appreciate them.

I'm frustrated, because I hear people like Steve Jobs saying that people don't read anymore and books are a thing of the past. No matter how you read, what media you use, reading is important. Reading is learning and understanding the world around you. Reading is expanding your mind, and allowing different possibilities. I don't think there's a replacement. It makes me worry that people in positions of power do.

I'm heading off to Pepperdine again tomorrow and I'm a little nervous about it. I was once so excited about the change that is possible in education and I'm afraid I've become a bit jaded. I hope that I become reinspired.

I have a feeling this will become a multiple post blog over the course of the week. This is it for now. I may even post more later tonight.