New Learning

Today's post is brought to you by Jaimie Howe.

I used to think that curriculum was given to teachers and that curriculum was what we were supposed to teach.  Yes, I always knew we could use our own creativity and differentiate to our higher and lower students, but I always “taught TO the curriculum.”

Now I know that the curriculum isn’t what we teach.  We teach the standards.  The curriculums that we have are resources to help us get there.  Common Core has really helped me understand this so much better.  

I used to have a scheduled time for read aloud in my classroom everyday because I knew and still know how important it is to read to children and engage them in text.

Now I encourage the teachers in my building to not only have a scheduled read aloud time, but to have a purposeful, planned, and interactive read aloud.  I have learned over the years that the more purposeful we are in what we teach and do, the more effective it is with our students.  

I used to believe that there was a “program” to fix any reading difficulty. Programs are always tied to a specific deficit that needs improvement, so you just match that to the student, right?  Not so much.

Now I believe, that although some programs may fix some reading difficulties in students, they most certainly do not fix all, or the majority for that matter.  What “fixes,” “helps,” “cures,” (or whatever term you want to use) are strategies - research based strategies that are tied to each specific student’s needs.  Each individual student is so different and there just can’t be a program out there to “fix all.”   Interventions need to be carefully planned in relation to the specific child.

I used to think that once I was in the same teaching position for more than a year, it would be easy.  I would just do the same thing year after year. I knew things would change from year to year a bit, but for the most part, I’d teach the same thing.

Now I know without a doubt that teaching is never easy and it is never the same.  Each year we work with a different group of students that need lessons differentiated in their own unique way.  Each year we get “smarter,” we learn new things.  Our teaching hopefully changes because of new learning and constantly keeps getting better.

I could probably go on and on about how my thinking and teaching has changed over the years. Change is a constant in teaching. The way we teach doesn't necessarily change year to year, but day to day and hour by hour. We constantly have to be on our toes. That is the joy and the excitement that keeps me going. . . new learning and change.