I liked the quote Routman said, "The best teachers are not followers and have an independent spirit." I have learned only being in the teaching field for 5 years that you cannot just jump on the band wagon and expect great results. It takes a lot of time and lots of reading and your own research of trial and error to make something work. I love being able to talk with my colleagues and get great ideas or go and watch excellent teachers but I have to use their ideas and what I know and have learned to help the students in my classroom excell. I have a really great relationship with our coach and she has given me some very good advice and help when I have asked her. She has even come in and modeled for me but I am sad to see that there are A LOT of teachers in my building that do not utilize her as a resource in their classroom and building of their own knowledge. I get the feeling that they think she is evaluating them in some way and making judgements, therefore, they will not go to her for help or advice. Sad but true. According to Routman, in order to become successful ongoing professional conversations and study groups must be happening!!! Also, something I feel that our school needs to have in place is common goals for writing, I know that we have them for reading but we are leaving out writing.
To end, I like what she says, "Only a highly knowledgeable teacher, not a program, can teach writing well."
I completely agree that having professional conversations is important to becoming an excellent teacher. I too have a reading coach at my school, and she is a great resource. She has even done some modeling for me too! She also does something called “Trading Spaces” which is where she will sub in your room for a half-hour to hour so that you can go and observe different things in other classrooms. I learn a lot from watching other teachers teach and looking around their classrooms. Also, we have a couple different study groups. In one study group we are doing a book study about different ways to teach reading strategies. In our other study group we share reading center ideas. I truly enjoy working with such talented and helpful people who are always willing to help and collaborate.
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ReplyDeleteI agree about the common writing goals. I like the child-friendly rubrics the text describes to get everyone on the same page about what is expected. The text reminds us not to use the six-traits as a curriculum, but as a guide for evaluation and improvement of writing. I think that's important to remember as we are setting our expectations and carrying out our lessons/minilessons.
ReplyDeleteI agree, something that works for one teacher may not work for me. I do believe that to be effective as an educator you must be open-minded about new ideas and methods of teaching. I have been guilty of trying too many new methods at once, and have had to make myself slow down before attempting something new.
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