Individual Reflection

I believe that the purpose of a school and my place in it as a teacher is to provide the knowledge that will enrich the lives of students and to make learning a continuous process for them while expanding their imaginations to enable them to appreciate the many things life has to offer.
Reading and math are the critical subjects. They are the doorway to all other learning. They are the essential tools that students will need throughout their lives. A well-rounded student will also have to know history in order to learn from the past and have some concept on where our present is leading us. Further, in order to be good citizens it is important for students to have some knowledge of civics to understand their role in society. It is also desirable for students to know something about science in an age when technology is so important in everyday life. It is also my belief that a well educated student needs some exposure to art and music.
It’s been my experience that my students’ learning has been enriched greatly by field trips to cultural institutions. An especially powerful experience my class had was on the occasion of our field trip to the National Museum of the American Indian where they gained powerful insights into the many cultures of Native Americans.
In addition to learning concepts, students should be aware of how those concepts apply or are useful to us in everyday life. For example when learning math, students should be aware of the importance of understanding the use of money in the supermarket; of being aware of price and affordability of products they use; they should be able to calculate the amount of time it takes to run a mile or to drive to Baltimore or Washington from home in a given speed.
It troubles me when a sixth grader does not know basic multiplication or division facts. I see every day in class how students cannot solve math problems because they do not know these basic math facts. The other day I gave my sixth grade students a blank multiplication chart like the one below:

I was surprised to see how many had difficulty completing the chart in the allotted time. This made me realize that they did not have the skills supposedly learned in previous years to successfully perform this task.
Reading is a key to all other learning and success in life. I am always aware of my students’ reading levels. I test my students by using Formative Assessments written by the County, and the Scholastic Reading Inventory Test to gauge their progress. However, I have some doubts that this is really a fully accurate measure of a student’s ability to read. As a child, I was encouraged to read by my parents and as a result developed a love of reading. Based on my own experience, I am convinced that without the incentives to read that I was provided with, I would not have pursued reading with such enthusiasm. In my own class I attempt to provide incentives to my students. We have a very attractive class library from which the students choose reading material each day for our 15 minutes of silent reading in class. I try to encourage parents to understand how important it is to stimulate their children’s to become readers. I find that when we are on the same wave length, I can make substantial progress.
If I were to use one of the five narratives from Postman, I would say that my job is like;
Word weavers/word makers
• Language is the driving force of what makes us human
• The purpose of schooling is to provide students with the mastery of language (Postman, pp.17-19)