Learning Letter

I enjoyed the works that we read this quarter, I found them very helpful. Something that I found very helpful were the book talks. This was something new in a classroom and a different way of a book report. I liked looking at books that I enjoy as a reader through teaching eyes. I would put less discussions in my unit plan, I think I relied too much on discussions. I think that I thought this because of how much discussion we've had in the classroom, and I get why we do it, but it might be more helpful for my students to have more than just discussion, writing, and reading.
I found the readings and the posts helpful when thinking about teaching. One big thing that I agree with was to have the students lead more of the teaching, so that they can remember what is being taught. I also want to make sure as a teacher I focus on the students' understanding verses memorization of certain materials.
When we were reading "discussion as a way of teaching" I saw a little of myself in the text. I was that shy kid that didn't participate in discussion, I didn't break that cycle of not talking. So as a teacher, I saw what I wanted to do for my students. And as a person, I tried to break that cycle by participating more, trying to speak. Sometimes I wasn't successful following through, but I felt like I made a lot of progress from where I was.