Week 2 Blog Post- McLean

Goals for the semester:
- learning creative teaching methods for including literacy in the classroom
- learning how to support children with high levels of achievement and low levels of achievement in the  same classroom environment
- practicing the skills that we talk about in class in my field placement
- observing skills that my placement teacher has that I can discuss in class, as well as integrate or remove from my own teaching

In what type of school and community context do you hope to teach?
- globally diverse (different races, cultures, languages, income levels, etc)
- where teachers have the opportunity to work as a team with their grade level
- where parents are supported and encouraged to participate in the classroom and/or school environment


What do you want to learn about literacy instruction to help you reach your goals?
- how to teach parents about helping their child succeed with literacy
- how to teach illiterate parents about their child's development and skills
- how to encourage children's independence at home with reading/writing
- how to structure a classroom library to help meet children's needs
- how to include literacy in all areas of the classroom without overwhelming struggling students

How do the jigsaw articles you read for today help you think about the kind of teacher you want to be?
- I want to learn about my students' cultures, languages, and home life (Diller article)
- I want to incorporate their personal experiences into the classroom to help motivate them and meet their personal needs (Diller and Hettinger & Knapp article)
- I want to encourage struggling students to still feel like they are a part of the classroom community (Hettinger & Knapp article)
- I want to teach students why school is important- and why what we are learning is important (Diller article)
- I want to help scaffold children's learning (Hettinger & Knapp article)
- I want to have a variety of reading materials and teach students the importance of reading for different purposes, and model that as an adult too (Diller and Hettinger & Knapp article)