Weekly Reading 8 and Discussion

Chapter 5 was a wonderful read that I enjoyed very much.  It provided wisdom that I can incorporate into my teaching. 

"Today, every teacher needs to be a media composition teacher."  I completely agree with this quote as teachers need to offer the power of being an author back to students.  This helps students put knowledge into practice.  There are so many tools available for students as well.  When students are given the opportunity to be the authors, they also have the authority.  Media composition also helps practice intellectual curiosity- thankfully I have always loved learning as well.  I find when I am excited about a topic my students are excited too.  When we come to a chapter I am not as interested in- the enthusiasm lacks from them as well. 

" The cycle of romance, precision, and generalization is at the heart of the creative process in science."  As a first year science teacher that has struggled some- this is point that I realized early on.  When the romance bond is strong and students are fully engaged in a topic, they are eager to delve into the precision aspect.  Without the romance, it can be very difficult for students to go into the precision learning.  They will be bored and perform like robots, just memorizing the facts to get by.

When students do have the freedom to create they will often mimic pop culture or what they have been watching which can make the teacher question them and where their thoughts are coming from.  "Writing and art teachers experience this problem frequently because they invite students to reveal their hearts, minds, and imaginations."  The difficult part of this is when a student depicts a dark side or exhibits violence within their creativity.  What is a teacher supposed to do at this point?  I can resonate with this due my own sons struggles.  When he drew a picture in school that was violent he was kicked out for 10 days.... but they did not actually talk to him about the picture.  When did we stop communicating with students?  If we would just talk to our students I think most of the these "possible" problems would not really be issues.  We would start understanding their minds and mostly their hearts.  Unfortunately, most of the time, there is no time, or we fear that we will somehow be found liable and lose our jobs.  So, we react, judge, and pass it off to someone higher and hope for the best while our students realize they can no longer trust those adults they spend every day with.