Seeing how engaged each student was when a parent or grandparent came to talk about community proved that student behavior improves when they are interested in the subjects.  Novelty (of content, delivery, or process) brings children into a zone of good behavior.  They listened respectfully, watched intently, participated voluntarily in the making of foods, hearing stories, and seeing dances from class mates' families. 

One of my most important subjects as a teacher is child development.  During my time studying at CalStateTEACH, I learned about many child development theories and classroom management theories.  These have to work hand in hand, to my mind, because the best classroom management technique will not work if the content is developmentally inappropriate.  For example, modelling exactly how to do an activity, having the instructions written on a chart, making time for questions and doing samples are all good classroom management techniques.  However, if the student does not have the background knowledge to connect the activity to.  If they are asked to multiply but have not mastered addition, they will have trouble behaving as the teacher wants them to.

I am very excited to have my own classroom and to get to know my first group of students.  I am eager to put to practice all I've learned from CalStateTEACH.

Jerome Bruner
I’m an advocate of the constructivist learning theory, and have been learning more about Jerome Bruner’s work. He states in The Culture of Education, "Beliefs and assumptions about teaching, whether in a school or in any other context, are a direct reflection of the beliefs and assumptions the teacher holds about the learner" (pp. 46-47). As I work in classrooms, I practically apply different techniques and processes to teach students. As I experience successes and failures, I find out about my assumptions about students.

Balancing enactive, iconic, and symbolic instruction will grow in importance for me based on my reading. And I’ll be reading more of Bruner’s recent work on how culture is passed on by schools.

Jean Piaget
Paiget’s research findings on ages and stages of development will remain one of my resources to keep my teaching developmentally appropriate. I’ll keep in mind that my roles as a teacher include organizing the learning environment (classroom, garden, field trips, etc); assessing children’s thinking, and initiating group activities (play, games, and discussions).

Lev Vygotsky
I have a natural affinity with Vygotsky and am going to study his work more. I’ve been seeking a teaching model that respects the meaning-making nature of learners while taking advantage of the teacher’s role in moving the learning forward into the students’ zones of proximal development. Vygotsky seems to provide this model. I appreciate his view that schooling occurs in a primarily social environment. Intellectual and social growth are combined, like hydrogen and oxygen, to form more something greater than the sum of their parts.

Carl Rogers
I am drawn to Carl Rogers’ goals from Freedom to Learn. The climate of trust, democratic participatory mode of decision making, building confidence and self-esteem, making discovery exciting, and finding the good life within are all goals I share with him. My experience so far as a student teacher has shown me that I have to meet students where they are. If they are in fifth or sixth grade and have not experienced the kind of environment I am trying to create (I’m thinking of my summer school experience here), then I can’t just insist that they look inward for motivation and the good life. If they are expecting rewards and punishments from me, it is unrealistic to immediately draw them into a less manipulative and artificial system. They will, understandably, be suspicious, or at least confused.

I’ll study the book, Freedom to Learn, and use the ideas that I think will help my students toward his ideal system, with modifications from Vygotsky’s work that include the teacher in moving learning forward.

Howard Gardner
I’ve been confused, as apparently others have been, by the differences between an Intelligence and a Domain. I understood that Gardner aimed to widen our view of intelligence by describing the multiple intelligences, stating that every student has some potential in each, and everyone has one or more intelligences in which they are gifted. I was confused by the idea, though, that there were precisely eight of these intelligences. Why was musical intelligence included, but, say, storytelling intelligence not (just for example). Now I understand that storytelling is a domain that involves several intelligences; namely: verbal-linguistic, interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences.

I’ll remember that every student is an intelligent student, regardless of IQ or STAR test results. I’ll also use the Table “Application of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences” to purposely notice what intelligences each student is displaying, and where growth could take place.