Bobby Cody
Prof. Geidel
Psych 424
1.How does one truly prepare for everything they will face in a classroom? The truth is that there is that it is an impossible venture. The world changes every second, there is no way to enter the classroom for the first time fully prepared for everything that will happen throughout one’s career. So is it hopeless? Absolutely not! The gospel of it is that others have gone before us. This is the best way to be prepared for a future of education. The question of being prepared to include learners with special needs is the same. We can, should, and must learn from those who have gone before us. They have seen what works and what does not. They have experimented for us. Asking the advice of veteran teachers every time I get the chance will be key. A good teacher will care enough about students to be willing to share their wisdom. Reading is another (and the best) avenue to gain knowledge about who has done what and how it has worked.
More importantly than learning the logistics of differentiated instruction is the heart it takes to do it well. How do we prepare our heart? We cannot. That thankfully we know the One who can. Spending time in the word opens our heart to those around us, filling us with the love of Christ, ever ready to be spread in this cold world. Prayer is key. It is never too soon to begin praying for your students.
2. While it has taken me some time to figure out how, I have come to understand that music is the ultimate example of how differentiated instruction can be employed in a classroom. Students show you what they know every moment of class. If a student is struggling with a passage in a song, the director will know. Every student must be met where they are. And we must work with them as individuals because that is how the best musical training occurs. Differentiated instruction, in its true essence will be at the base of my curriculum from day one. From assigning solos to each member based on their ability level to have students split into section circles so they can build of each others strengths when trying to learn a song, successful musical ensembles are differentiated classrooms.
As a music teacher, I will be both a jazz musician and like a jazz musician. A jazz musician improvises to the full extent of the word. When he has his break, he is listening, feeling, and expressing simultaneously. As a teacher, I will be listening through assessment. Sometimes it may be literally be listening to answers, other times pure observation, but in any case, listening is a necessary part of improvising. I will feel the class. I will feel how it is moving and progressing. And I will express my pedagogical ideas. In all these things the point is that a jazz musician is truly improvising, acting on what he observes, just like a teacher should.
3.In “The Ron Clark Movie”, I identified with his heart, how much he cared about his students. When I watched that movie, I could feel what he felt in each situation. A lot of people care, but few have the drive and bravery to go out and actually make a difference in the life of a child. The biggest thing I took from that movie is the absolute guts it takes to be the teacher that my students will need me to be. Teaching is not a life of sitting in a desk. It should be a life of desperately searching out the best for our students, everything within our power to give them the opportunities they deserve.