This project has made me place myself in a teacher’s shoes in a way where I had to read a book and dig deeper than the text in order to analyze it. Then from there, facilitating many lessons with discussion questions that got the class thinking. Although our “students” did not read our book, we made a video explaining it in depth so that they were able to answer the questions we created in order to have a smooth discussion with lots of great opportunities for them to think on our feet about what we would do in certain situations and here each others ideas in order to come up with the best possible solutions.
Teachers often do learn from their students in many ways just as the students learn lots from the teacher because everyone has different perspective on certain things, especially in discussion. We learned how to initiate a discussion and solve many problems that may arise in a teachers position.
I also realized that not everything can be solved by a teacher and that is okay. As a teacher you do not need to solve every problem that may arise alone. There are many different ways that you can solve problems that arise in your classroom. One being that you always have the choice to go to your colleagues, students parents, counselors, and administration if need be, even to just ask for advice on how to handle a situation. As teachers, you have a support system through the people who surround you at your workplace. You are not alone in this profession even though you have your own classroom.
One thing that I also had to use was my “teacher voice”. When running a discussion it is very important to talk at the correct level of loudness and to talk very clearly. Your discussion questions should also be very clear on what they are asking and should get the class thinking and strategizing. If you do not meet these things, it may cause a very quiet, non-participating group of students, and that is no good.
All in all, teachers have to be able to create engaging questions about a text and facilitate them in very clear manors in their profession. It is very important to have this skill. Teacher’s are able to run a smooth discussion that students understand and want to participate in. It is essential to push students to expand their learning and ease them out of their comfort zones. This helps them grow in their development. Especially, cognitive and social development.
