What makes great teaching?

 What makes great teaching?

    When creating my top 5 list, I chose things that throughout the semester really stuck with me and taught me a lot. Blogging was one of the best things for me that came out of this semester. I felt like blogging was a way for me to be able to share my thoughts on the topics with other classmates and being able to read about their thoughts as well. I think commenting on other people's blogs and having a conversation with them was refreshing because this is an online course so it was nice to "talk" with others in the class.

    Another strategy I put on there was the worditout assignment and my process of choosing that one was because of the picture at the end. I am a visual learner so being able to see all the word I chose in various sizes really helped me see the importance behind the words.

    The question of "What makes great teaching" includes many things. The past teachers I have had that left a lasting impact on me all had characteristics in common. One thing was that they all connected with their students. Being able to teach kids subject matter is one thing but going above and beyond to make sure every kid is understanding and developing strong relationships with their students is what makes great teaching. I think a lot of great teaching comes from what the students are able to learn before the year is over but also the way of teaching. You can be a very intelligent individual and have the knowledge to teach kids but if you are doing it in a harsh, cold way, kids do not respond positively to that. I remember a quote from a past module that talked about "kids don't learn from people they don't like". This quote really stuck with me and I think highlights that great teaching comes from the relationship with their students and caring about their well-being. 

What is worth learning?

 What is worth learning?

racial trauma, violence, discipline frame teaching. teachers avoid teaching Black history, remaining silent. we have to struggle to learn more

For my black out poem, I wanted it to start off with showcasing the violence of the curriculum and how teachers are avoiding certain things in fear of repercussions. I wanted the ending to show that people struggle with trying to learn certain things because school systems and teaching are leaving out crucial information. 

When the question is brought up of "What is worth learning?", my immediate response is almost everything. In the article "Texas School District Strikes More Books From Reading Lists", a point is brought up that Texas is continuing to ban more books which contributes to "minimization of the issues that people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals face". When I first heard that states can ban books I was confused as to why they would do that. I didn't get why an author could go through so much work and then have the government declare that no one could read their work. I think reading is one of the best ways to learn things. So much information can be held in between the two covers of a book. One of the quotes I really liked from this article states "How can we expect young people to learn about diversity, if we do not expose them to diverse perspectives in literature?" I think this quote really showcases the harm of banning books and that so many things can be learned from reading them. Back to the question of "What is worth learning?", I think everything is worth learning and everyone should get the chance to do that. We cannot erase the past so we might as well learn from it.