Session 3: Reflection

I unfortunately didn't spend as much time on this session as I should have done. Spring Break was right smack in the middle of it and I went to Tennessee to visit my family sans computer and Internet! While it was nice for me to be disconnected, I obviously didn't participate in the discussion forums as well as I normally do. Luckily, the other 3 students in the class were also on Spring Break and getting posts in at the last minute as well. I had a great plan to work on my discussion posts and my portfolio entries when I got home on Sunday night-- but instead I was stranded at the airport in Baltimore and didn't get to Manchester, NH until midnight. Needless to say, I didn't get any NETS work done that night!

Overall, I thought this session was really helpful with the information and examples of rubrics for teaching lessons. One of the biggest points that has been reinforced for me is that a rubric is only as strong as the person who created it. In other words, if the teacher doesn't have much experience in writing rubrics, there's a chance that the rubric won't give firm ideas about what makes an exceptional project. I am still a little confused about summative and formative assessments, and I plan on asking one of my mentors at school for some real classroom examples for further understanding.

Here's hoping that next session will be a lot calmer!

Session 2: Reflection

This session, although it taught me a lot actually made me feel a lot more frustrated about my lack of teaching experience and knowledge. Plus, since I'm a librarian I don't have access to a traditional class; instead I have many different classes and students throughout a week. This makes it hard for me to describe classroom practice or even to know developmental levels or various work strategies of different students. Often, when teachers bring their students to the library it is for a specific project and I don't get a run down on the individual students in the class. Also, many teachers only use the library for a one class period project, which not only doesn't allow for a great deal of critical thinking but it also doesn't give me a chance to get to know students really well.

Another reason that I'm feeling frustrated is because I feel like I'm playing catch-up to other teachers. I have a Master's degree in Library Science, not in Education and I also don't have a teaching credential. Many of the concepts that are being explained are completely new topics to me. This is actually the first time that I felt overwhelmed by the teaching concepts that I think i should know. And if I were a traditional first year teacher, I would have a greater opportunity to know my students very well and to actually have a classroom practice.