Reading Reflection Week 11

               While reading this chapter, I decided to look at each lesson from my current situation.  I looked at which lessons I found to be relevant to me as a Kindergarten teacher.  I found quite a few of the lessons to be relevant to me and my current situation, but two of them that I found to be the most relevant were, Lesson 8: Develop a Strong Set of Communication Skills and Lesson 16: Keep Up with the Literature in Your Areas of Interest.

                Lesson 8: Develop a Strong Set of Communication Skills is very relevant to me because I am constantly communicating.  I communicate with students, parents, co-workers, and administrators on a day-to-day basis.  The communication that I have found to be most important is communication with parents.  Since becoming a teacher, I have definitely improved on my communication with parents.  I have learned to refine my written communication.  While it’s still not perfect and I’m sure never will be, I have definitely learned how to write to parents in a way that I communicate what I wanted to say without offending anyone or anything being taken out of context.  I have also improved in my verbal communication with parents.  I think part of this comes with maturity, but I used to be almost afraid to tell parents the full truth and would sugarcoat things.  I have since learned that telling the whole truth (tastefully) is the best thing for parents and most actually appreciate the honesty. 

                I have also found communication with students to be just as important.  Whether it’s explaining something so they understand or talking to a student who is having a bad day, communicating with students is extremely important.  The way a teacher communicates with a student can affect their whole day.  For example, I have one student with an emotional impairment.  When this student walks in the door, I start out with a fresh new attitude and give them the most positive reinforcement that I can.  If I start out the day communicating in a positive way, they will pick up that attitude. 

In order to further learn how to effectively communicate in my career, I can take a look at how others communicate.  I work with very talented teachers and I know that we can definitely learn from each other.  Also, I can talk to my administrators.  I am always up for advice and if I feel the need, I can ask my administrators for some help.

                Lesson 16: Keep Up with the Literature in Your Areas of Interest is also very relevant to me.  In this day and age, when everything in education is constantly changing, it is so important to stay abreast of the latest information.  I look at this as not only reading articles on education, but also looking at how other teachers teach.  I love to find new ways to teach and how to keep things fresh and new.  The term “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” does not apply to me.  For instance, I know I had a successful school year last year.  My students all learned a great deal and had fun while doing it; however, I know there are other ways I could have taught certain lessons and subject areas.  Before this school year, I spent a lot of time looking at new activities and lessons to incorporate into this new school year.

                In order to further keep up with trends in my area of interest, I can devote more time to doing so!  If I want to keep up-to-date with literacy in the classroom, I need to spend more time reading and researching the new ways of teaching literacy.  The same goes with any other subject.