That time already?! Reading Response and Self-Evaluation

It is hard to believe that this semester is winding down and that we are fast approaching the end of the semester. I know that I am a week early in posting the Reading Response and Self-evaluation, but Spring Break is the perfect time to catch up on things!

After re-reading my blogs I was suprised at the number of literacy concepts I apply in my classroom without even really realizing it! Running records, dialogic read-alouds, and other assessments are apart of my daily classroom routines, along with strategies neccessary to assist ELL students. I was also surprised that I recalled previously learned information regarding topics such as Reggio Emilia and how to incorporate some of its ideas, such as familial ownership into the classroom.

As far as blogging goes, I have decided that at this point I have a love/hate relationship going on and whether I am feeling the love all depends upon the topic! I have learned that I can be quite passionate about certain topics (i.e. what best practice tells us we should be doing contrasted with the reality of what a school district and your boss may be telling you to do). I am not sure if I will continue to blog, but even if I do not I can honestly say that it has been beneficial to respond to articles in a forum that allows me to express myself in a laid back environment.

While rereading my classmates posts it became clear that we all have things in common...including desires to instill change in the public school system regarding best practices and some things we see differently....what we need to expect from families. We all seem to be reflective and acknowledge that we feel (a great deal of the time) like there is always more that we could be doing for our students and we seek the knowledge to make sure that happens. It is also clear from our blogs that we love our students and find joy in the humorous, day to day events that make up our careers as early childhood educators.