Curriculum and Instruction

There was a definite "Aha moment" while reading this chapter. When I am a teacher, my role will not just to be a teacher. I will inevitably need to be a counselor, parent, coach, social worker, and many more. I loved how Chapter 5 begins with stating, "the teacher agrees to form that bond with the student."

So what does that mean? I think it means that when we sign up to be a teacher we are agreeing to not just be teachers that teach a couple of different subjects, but we need to actually get to know our students.

What kind of teachers will we be if we just teach subject matter? We would be BAD teachers if this is all we did, we wouldn't know our students and we wouldn't know how to differentiate for them.

So how do you create that bond with our students? One simple way would be MORNING MEETINGS!! I think that the sharing in our morning meetings makes a huge difference in our students lives. We will actually get to know each student if we take the time to do morning meetings and get to know our students. The teachers that I remember really well are the teachers that actually try to create this bond.

My fourth grade teacher Mrs. Williams stands out to me the most with this. I struggled in my early elementary years. I remember not doing very well in class and not getting the best grades. The first time I ever got straight A's was in fourth grade. Mrs. Williams made me feel special and that I could actually achieve great things. I struggled in math until her class. I remember learning long division and she told me I had mastered it so well that I should teach the class how to do it. So I did and I remember thinking that I was so great and in reality I don't actually think I did well on that until she gave me the confidence that I could actually do it.

That is the type of teacher I want to be. I want to make each of my students feel special and able to accomplish anything that they set their minds to.