A Teacher's Ruminations

The I have been dismayed to realize that despite my self-image as a teacher with a learner centered classroom, I am far from truly achieving that goal.  I have been listening carefully to myself lately, and I don't like what I hear myself saying to the kids. Instead of empowering my students to take ownership of their learning, I am still the director on the stage. I still ask leading questions rather than ones that push the learner to figure things out for herself. I realize I often spoon feed my students hopeful that they will give me the answer I'm looking for. An answer that will make my job easier. Answers that will fit with what I expect students to say despite the fact that 30 years in education has taught me nothing if not that students are unpredictable, and if we prepare for anything, that is what we should be prepared for.  Teacher An anecdote. The other day I was talking with a student about the fact that she was abandoning more books than she was ...

I have been dismayed to realize that despite my self-image as a teacher with a learner centered classroom, I am far from truly achieving that goal.  I have been listening carefully to myself lately, and I don't like what I hear myself saying to the kids. Instead of empowering my students to take ownership of their learning, I am still the director on the stage. I still ask leading questions rather than ones that push the learner to figure things out for herself. I realize I often spoon feed my students hopeful that they will give me the answer I'm looking for. An answer that will make my job easier. Answers that will fit with what I expect students to say despite the fact that 30 years in education has taught me nothing if not that students are unpredictable, and if we prepare for anything, that is what we should be prepared for.  An anecdote. The other day I was talking with a student about the fact that she was abandoning more books than she was finishing. I was...

It was one of those moments when I wished I could have recorded the discussion. But I couldn't have anticipated the depth of or interest in the conversation. In fact, I couldn't have planned the conversation even if I'd wanted to. We had just finished a chapter in our current read aloud,  Pax by Sara Pennypacker . It was suggested by one of my students and since it was a book that I hadn't read, but wanted to read, I said, "Sure!" I had planned on spending a couple of weeks reading the book to the class, but this is such a rich book that it will probably take twice as long to finish it. The kids don't seem to mind and neither do I, though they want me to read at least two chapters or more every day because they want to know what happens next. At the end of the read aloud yesterday I asked a question about the characters: What do we now know about each of the characters and how do we know that? They humored me for a few minutes until someone change...