FINAL BLOG POST

While reading my math reflections I realized a lot of my posts were very passionate and contained many strong opinions. Most of my posts were arguing for balance, equality and student advocacy, which reconfirmed my motivations for being in this program. I learned that I am who I always have been, meaning, I've always cared about equality whether it be in the classroom, in society or even in the world. I also learned the motivations behind why I'm truly here and what kind of teacher I hope to become. I am here because of the teachers, mentors and family that have influenced my practice and I truly appreciate all that they have done for me. I also hope that one day I can become that same mentor for my own students. I care so much and I really want to make a difference, but I guess what teacher doesn't? It is all about how I choose to make this change a reality. I will use many of the things I learned and discovered in this class to help make those changes in my own classroom. Early in the semester I learned the difference between instrumental and relational understanding and as usual I hope to take a balance of both in my classroom. I also learned that although I am very passionate, sometimes words and promises are not enough, you have to take action to truly make change and I learned from my TPI that I must make that adjustment if I hope to achieve any of the teaching goals I have set. During the semester I also learned about the null curriculum and the dangers of it. During my own practice I plan to be very careful about the things I choose not to teach because they say just as much about my motives, as the things I do teach. I also learned from both my microteaching reflections that my lessons are often too optimistic in assuming I have enough time for the given content and so moving forward with lesson planning I hope to scale down my lessons and leave extra material at the end which has the option of being skipped as my timing was very off during those lessons. I also learned really interesting ways to incorporate cross-curricular content into my classroom using art or social justice or even the environment. Although I was resistant to self-reflections in the beginning of this course, I have found it very valuable to look back and see my perspectives then and what I have learned now. Many of my ideals are still the same, but my practices and strategies have increased and so I hope to continue to self-reflect, grow and get better as both a person and a teacher.

Thank you for a great class Susan!