Writing Circle 1

Our first writing circle was very stimulating and provoked many thoughts and ideas. Our group was open an candid about discussing topics such as private vs public schools and the teaching profession as whole.

We began by discussing each of our blogs. We talked about how my blog discussed that the some reasons for becoming a teacher needs to be a desire to benefit the profession as a whole. We discussed how in American School, Kohl said that in his 26 years, he had never heard teachers talk to colleagues about ways to improve teaching and learning. Whether that be techniques, styles, or other things.

Stacie brought up how she had a discussion in which a person had the opinion that urban public school teachers were of a much lesser quality than teachers in suburban schools and in private schools. The idea was that better teachers move out of the urban schools and into "better" jobs. The group seemed to agree that this notion is ignorant. I believe that the best teachers teach in urban public schools. The desire and love of teaching has to be present in teachers who face adverse circumstances. A teacher who may have to walk through a metal detector everyday must truly be passionate about his or her job to deal with such adverse situations.

Both Darcy's and Stacie's blogs were great personal stories that motivated me to want to write about my personal experiences as they relate to our learning. Their blogs pushed me to try to conceptualize the readings from class and compare them to my life experiences. Just reflecting about what I read without bringing in my personal experiences is not good enough.

Shawn's blog involved a poem that he himself told us took him awhile to understand. He discussed how his blog meant that the focus of education should not necessarily be on the check points that students hit along the way, but instead be focused on the accumulation of knowledge and life skills over the lifespan of a students education.

After discussing our blogs, our conversation mostly focused on the issues with private vs public education and the many questions that follow. We discussed how a teacher needs a wide variety of skills because the type of instruction that happens in a private school like a Walsh Jesuit or a St. Ignatius may be very different than strategies utilized in a Cleveland Public School. Not to say one is better or even more effective than the other.

I found the writing circle to be a source of guidance and a source of new ideas for myself. It was important to here other people's perspectives and thoughts and interpretations about the ideas we have discussed so far in class.