Half-way Point

I feel that I have learned a lot from this course. Right from the first class, when we watched the Lavoie video, I was able to understand the frustration a child might have a little bit better. Even though I knew it was an exercise, I kept feeling angry at the “teacher” for being so mean. Throughout this course, what has come up again and again is the idea of creating a classroom community. I hope to be able to do this when I am on my own as a teacher. Differentiated instruction has been stressed a lot in this course. I am interested to see evidence of it and to try to use differentiated instruction in my practicum.

When discussing the importance of a classroom community, the focus seems to be on elementary classrooms. Although I plan to teach at a secondary level, I want all my students to know that my classroom is a safe place for them to express themselves. I think the first step in building this community atmosphere will be getting to know my students as individuals, without trying to act too much like their friend. One of my concerns regarding getting to know students is the cumulative files. I can understand the importance of them, of course, but I worry about having a tainted perspective of a student before I have gotten to know them myself.

I understand the importance of having differentiated instruction in a classroom, but I imagine this is difficult to actually put into practice. I think that now I will be better able to realize when I am observing differentiated instruction and to apply it in my own teaching.

For the most part, I think this course has given me a good introduction to inclusive classrooms. By putting this knowledge into practice, I will be able to understand the theory better, though.