"The Reflective Educator's Guide to Classroom Research": Chapter 2 - Reading Response

This chapter built off of the first chapter's ideas, so, "Where do I go from here?" How do I begin my reflective journey during my preservice explorations? The chapter featured eight passions that highlighted "lenses" that teachers can put on to look at their teaching. They included individual child, curriculum, personal vs. professional identity, and focusing on understanding the teaching and learning context. At the end of each chapter, a list of exercises to complete were given to develop that particular passion and give the reader an idea of what they could do with that passion. Finally, it talks about what to do if you are having trouble coming up with your wondering and inquiring questions. Many examples and personal testimonies are used to supplement the passions in the chapter, as well as research based reports.

Reflection

At first while reading this chapter, I was at a loss at what it had to do with me. I'm not teaching, so why am I reflecting about these passions for teachers? However, once I read a few passions, I realized how much I could connect with the stories from teachers and what the passions were asking me to do. I often wanted to participate in the exercises given for each passion because they intrigued me. I've always had an interest in self-reflection and in finding out how minds, not just mine, work. The exercises made me think about how I am shaping myself as a teacher. I also loved how they highlighted that teaching won't be all great and happy because you have a passion for it or the particular subject you're teaching. You may love teaching, but you're going to have bad days, too. You're going to wonder why you're doing this and what you are doing wrong. I constantly found myself asking the same questions as the people who were interviewed for this chapter. I ask myself, "Why aren't my students getting what I'm teaching?" and "How do I teach/deal with a sensitive topic to my students without causing more trouble than I try to solve?" We as teachers deal with our students for anywhere between 1 hour to 8 hours a day. We have to adjust to needs and new issues daily while trying to teach a class of 20-30 students how to analyze a story. This chapter gave me great ideas about how to step back and look at what I'm doing to see how I can improve, because there is always room for improvement. I didn't connect with every passion as well as I did with others, but I definitely began to see how I can take my thinking and evolve it. We can't afford to sit back and stick to routines that are "time and time again proven to work" because that's not always the case. On page 47 of The Reflective Educator's Guide to Classroom Research, I found this quote, "...we can become so immersed in strategies and routines that have worked in the past that we fail to try new strategies that could potentially enhance our teaching" (2014). This really spoke to me because it's imperative in the modern day classroom that we adjust to the needs of all our students, not just the ones we like or think are the easiest to deal with. It's difficult to do, but we do it because we want to have an influence on the life of children. My final thought is on the quote under Passion 6 - the Intersection of Your Personal and Professional Identities - from William Ayers' The good preschool teacher: Six teachers reflect on their lives (1989). He says, "Teaching is not simply what one does, it is who one is." I teach because I want to influence my students and make them active learners and participants in the world about them. I may not always succeed; in fact, I will fail sometimes. But in the end, I will strive to become a better teacher and learn from my mistakes because it is simply who I am: a teacher.

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