Entry #5: Reflection (Four ways of looking at myself as a learner/literacy educator)

Reflection–Four ways of looking at myself as a learner/literacy educator

Looking backwards–How did I learn in each course and across courses? Is there a common thread that runs through my learning in different courses so far?

In regards to my fieldwork, it was really helpful to visit schools, even in just an observer capacity. I don't work as a teacher during the day, so being part of a classroom and getting to know a range of young children helped me better envision myself as a future teacher and make my coursework feel more "real." I had a lot of difficulty juggling my publishing job, fieldwork, and Hunter classes, but my fieldwork reminded me that being around kids always seems to energize and inspire me no matter how tired I am. That feeling is primarily what made me decide to go into early childhood education as a career.

This was my first semester at Hunter, and along with Curriculum Development, I also took Child Development and Expressive Arts. There was significant content overlap in all three classes, particularly in regards to developmentally appropriate practices. I also really appreciated that all my professors encouraged us to understand a range of different perspectives and theories, even when they conflict with each other, and grapple with the fact that there is no single correct approach to a situation.

Looking inward–How have I grown and changed as a learner? Is there a most significant/influential experience that changed the way I think about myself as a learner?

I graduated from college seven years ago, so I have definitely changed as a "learner" since then. I think the main difference is my core motivation--- in college, my focus was primarily turned inwards. I wanted to figure out "Who am I? What am I interested in? Am I good enough?"

After several years of working a range of jobs (national service, construction, school and museum administration), my energy is focused outside of myself, towards how I can use my skills and experience to help others and my community. My goal in school now is to acquire the practical training, certification, and knowledge I need in order to have a strong foundation as a new teacher.

Compared to when I was in college, my attention and priorities are much more divided now. I don't have the luxury of being a full-time student, so I think of grad school as a third job instead of "being a learner." The downside of this is that it's difficult to find the time and energy to be more reflective about my studies beyond cutting through my to-do list, but I do feel that I'm more confident and purposeful in my classes and I'm able to analyze and assimilate useful information more efficiently.

Looking outward–How has my learning at Hunter impacted my teaching and my students’ learning? Is there a most significant/influential experience that changed the way I think about my teaching and my students’ learning?

I think my main take-away from this semester so far is the reassurance that there is no one correct way to be a teacher, but it's important to ground your methodology in research and a holistic understanding of different perspectives. There are some things you can only learn from years of experience as a teacher, but as a teacher-in-training, there are a lot of things I can put away in my toolbox so I'm as prepared as possible.

I think it's really important to be humble and be open to different ideas on how to approach a situation. My classes at Hunter have opened my eyes to new perspectives and encouraged me to re-evaluate my ideas of what constitutes good teaching practices--- some of my impressions are based on practices I observed from my own teachers growing up and they have since been debunked by new research. For example, I always thought it was better to let babies "cry it out" instead of immediately comforting them. However, in my Child Development class, we talked about new research that strongly suggests that this isn't the best way to handle crying.

Looking forward–What short-term and long- term goals do I set for my continued professional growth?

My short-term goal for next semester is to carve out more time and energy to be more reflective about my studies. Juggling three classes, a part-time unrelated job, and fieldwork this semester was really exhausting, so I'm going to accomplish this by only taking two classes next semester.

One topic that I'd like to focus more on over the course of my graduate work is best practices in the classroom related to multiculturalism. I'm interested in learning more about how to teach cultural diversity in the classroom in meaningful ways that go beyond celebrating holidays and choosing a range of picture books or classroom decorations. I think it's fascinating to consider different cultural approaches to education and child development and how they compare to Western-style education. My long-term goal is to keep this topic in mind during my remaining semesters and consider focusing on it as my thesis project.