While creating this blog a few things came to my mind. What does it mean to be a pre-service English Language Arts teacher? What do I have to bring to the table - when the table is a very cluttered internet full of amazing and sometimes a bit mystifying styles of teaching. What I intend to do with this blog is to highlight some innovative strategies of teaching mid-level students. These strategies will often include the use of technology and other creative resources to take students beyond the simple read a story and answer the questions approach that plagues many classrooms today.
Something I learned while reviewing a few teaching blogs that are out there, is that personal experience is key. While I do not have my own classroom - yet, I will work to include as much of my classroom experiences from the various practicums I have taught. The main focus of this blog is ELA teaching, I will draw from other disciplines as well - a theme that is being used throughout middle school education today. I will also strive to keep this blog organized and easy to read.
I do want to stay away from simply regurgitating lesson plans that have already been used or technology that is readily available. I will not regale you with stories of my successful uses of a Smart board. Those stories have been written a thousand times over - but an innovative use of a Smart board is fair game in this blog. Also I am not to a point in my career where I feel it is fair to say a teacher is absolutely right or wrong for teaching one way or another. I will never degrade a whole style of teaching here simply because I have never seen it in action. I do not have a problem speaking from my own experience about the classrooms that I have taught in and what worked and what didn't work. But I will not tell you what to do and what not to do. I am simply here to offer new ideas to refresh the teaching of English Language Arts and getting students excited about what you are teaching them.
