Response to a Class Discussion

There were several ideas discussed in today's class that I were particularly drawn to and it is interesting the ways in which they melded together in seemingly unintentional ways. We first took a personality type style “teaching philosophy” test. This test was designed to calculate our teaching style. The part that was particularly interesting was the way in which we were able to first negatively react to our results and then have the opportunity to analyze three different teachers execute and perform their teaching style in their own way as they taught us throughout the class. I also thought that it was interesting how again we discussed the idea of “start with the end in mind.” This brought us to a discussion of our portfolios that we will have to make by the end of the year. The point of the end of the year is what actually struck me. Is that really “the end” we should have in mind? This led me to realize that by saying that the end of the year is my goal, the inherent value of a course is lessened. It should not be about reaching a time point but rather a state of mind. It is the same with our students, the end is summer break. Wrong. The end should be college, grad school, the workforce, what you want to do with your life. We as students and teachers do not know what the end is, what it is supposed to be, what it is personally. We need to be able to identify that, so that the goal is not “next fall” but something bigger. Brandon seemed to wrap this up in a shell for us at the end. He left us with a stunning point, of course he was talking about how long until the Common Core will show positive results and really start working, but a stunning point none the less – that we have to wait for enduring understandings, that we have to be in this for the long haul.