Outside-school experiences have helped to
deepen my subject area content knowledge by helping me understand more about a
particular subject area and/or look at it in an entirely new light. This in
turn provides me with a deeper level of understanding that can be relayed in my
own teachings to my students, in a given subject. Additionally, I encourage my
students to ask critical thinking questions in order to dig deeper to foster a
love and interest for a given subject. Growing up on the East Coast has given
me many historical educational opportunities, though I did not realize this when
I was young, which I am so thankful to have had. As a kid, my mother loved to
explore the outdoors of New England. Rather than go on vacation to Disney World
or a local amusement park, my mother thought it would be more beneficial to
“get back to nature” so-to-speak leading us on many adventures, from state
parks to old family homes in upstate Maine. These places were all oozing with
history and stories; it was so exciting to me as a young learner! I was always
one to ask a lot of questions because I had a thirst for knowing EVERYTHING. Yet
because questioning was not encouraged in school, I did not question what my
teachers told me in class. Conversely, after moving to California my theory on questioning
changed. I noticed that I did not just thirst for more knowledge anymore, I
also questioned if information was reliable. In my own teaching, I am not at
all like my teachers when teaching content to my students. I, unlike most of my
teachers, encourage my students to ask questions, ESPECIALLY when something is
“squishy” (my term for hard/difficult to understand). I believe questioning and
analyzing are important parts to a deeper understanding of all subject matter.
With that said, I hope to continue my journey in mastery of content knowledge,
all the while growing and learning from those around me.
In
response to the class discussion of Ball’s “The Subject Matter Preparation of
Teachers”, my initial judgments have changed in the sense that I feel more
enlightened on the specifics of “subject area content knowledge”. As I reflect,
during the discussion I was more focused on pedagogical content knowledge and
those factors that have influenced mine. Now that I focus more on subject area
content knowledge, I realize that I was most influenced through my college
education than my K-12. I believe this is consistent with the fact that most of
my teachers enforced the “teacher authority” model. This, not being conducive
to my learning, is something I do not want to repeat, as I believe it is a
disservice to students in many respects. I appreciated hearing and sharing
thoughts with my classmates, as it provides me with an entirely new way in
which to view the topic at hand.
I
have developed a line of inquiry that I have retrieved some readings on, but
feel as though my topic may be too broad. My initial question is as follows,
what is the history of English Orthography? I am satisfied with my question, as
I am extremely intrigued by this topic. After looking for further information,
I realize this topic is extremely broad and is typically linked with other
aspects of literacy. With that said, I need to be sure I locate articles with
more than one paragraph about English Orthography, which is part of the challenge
I have run into. One of my ideas for an experiential learning source is taking
another class at St. Mary’s. I have questions on which classes qualify but have
not chosen a specific one yet. Additionally, I plan on interviewing a member of
the Board of Education at my school (she is a former Kindergarten teacher and
Principal), attend a conference, and hopefully, connect with a local author.
The last two years I have gone to the CKA’s Kindergarten Conference in which I
met Bob Barner, who is a local author/illustrator of children’s books. Bob
Barner also holds workshops and I am hoping to connect with him about his work.
One
specific thing I would like to share about reading in my Kindergarten class is
the following story. Throughout my first two years of teaching I have always
expressed my love for reading and taking adventures through the use of books
(non-fiction AND fiction). A little background information about me, I use to
HATE reading. My 1st grade teacher (Mrs. Berry) was the ONLY teacher
who shared her love of reading with us and I equally loved reading that school
year. After her, reading felt like a chore and I swore I would not let my
students feel that way when I taught. So, I did just what I wanted to, I
created a place that would foster eager readers. Both of the years I
implemented this plan it started out just the same, which was feeling as though
the students would not truly enjoy reading. In my mind, if my students did not
love to read then I had failed them as their teacher. In both scenarios by
year’s end, my students were reading to each other on the rug. Throughout the
school year, when reading aloud I allow them to ask a friend for help if they
get stuck on any “squishy” words, etc. They look like little mini-Ms. (Mr.)
O’Connell’s! It left me feeling that if they learned just one thing from me, it
was a passion for reading and books. The best part of all of this is when I
begin a read aloud and Theo asks me, “Ms. O’Connell, if you have trouble with
any of the words, can I help you?” and I always reply with an eager, “of course
you can!”
