What I Have Learned

     This course was one that I enjoyed very much.  I teach fifth grade language arts and social studies, so many of the ideas we learned and discussed in class were things I can do in my classroom. I knew about many of the subjects we touched on in class, but I didn't have the motivation to make an effort to implement or try out the activities.  Listening to my classmates talk about how things worked in their classrooms and reading the "success stories" in the Daniels and Bizar chapters made me sit up and take notice a bit more.
      As I use my summer free time to think about my plans for next year, I know that I will finally make myself try out some of the activities we read about.  Of course, there were things mentioned that I am already doing in my classroom, and I was so happy to read that, yes, believe it or not, I was teaching the right way for the most part.  I do read alouds and have students participate in the reading by reflecting on what is read and predicting what will happen next.  Literature Circles have been used in my classroom as well - I love children's novels - and I have student-led conferences with parents using portfolios we create. I need to do more with alternative forms of assessment in the classroom and give my students more "choice" as well.  I also need to integrate in deeper ways.  Many of my read-aloud novels were on social studies topics, but I can do so much more with integration after this class.  I want to integrate curriculum in deeper, more meaningful ways next year.  And, though I can't say I'm thrilled with integrated units right now, I might even bribe a colleague or two to help me develop a unit (much simpler lesson plans, though!!) that we can use that integrates our curriculum.  I think my students would enjoy this.
     I enjoyed the Daniels and Bizar book but I loved the Schell and Fisher text.  I guess I'm biased towards social studies and hate the way it gets pushed aside for tested subjects, so I felt like this text gave me some much needed ideas for creating interesting lessons that could be used to cover more than one topic. I also thought the Integrated Units book was helpful even if some of the units were not written for my grade level.  I think I can modify a few of the units so they will work in my classroom.
     Once again, a large part of what I learned in the class came from my peers.  The textbooks were good, the lessons were well-planned and delivered, but hearing from someone who is doing the same job, in a similar environment, with a population similar to my own makes a comment or suggestion very powerful.  I have borrowed ideas form my classmates in the past and I plan to use even more of thier ideas next year.
     I also feel like the class has prepared me for starting the school year with a new curriculum.  I have had NO training in CCSS or the Essentials that NC plans to use next year.  Because I was "forced" to work with these documents, I have become familiar with them and I am comfortable with the new curriculum and confident that I can use it to create learning experiences for my students.  I can't imagine how lost some teachers in my county are going to be when they see the CCSS for the first time next year as they sit down to write the first week of lesson plans.  While I did not enjoy having to dive in and work with these standards (soooo exciting) I do appreciate being given the incentive to study and learn them so I can be a better teacher from the start of the school year.