Alana's Reflections

Back to the Future, Teacher Style

Teaching is a challenging endeavor, and teaching writing is even more terrifying. Students will be writing SOMETHING for the rest of their working lives. In the working world people write emails, proposals, adjustments, and other work related projects and it is the job of their teachers to prepare them for this inevitable future. In the following messages I write not only to my future students, but my future self. I want to help improve the writing of my future students as well
as myself. People are continuously growing as writers, including teachers, and I want to reassure that just because they aren’t amazing writers yet, they still can be, because I am also still growing as a writer.

A letter to my future self:

Dear Future Me,

Remember me? I am that chick from forever ago who was really excited to become a teacher. I hope that spark and spunk is still there! I hope your dreams of becoming a teacher have come true. I hope you are teaching with a passion. I know you probably have some bad days. but the good days are great, I bet!

Are you reassuring your students? Are you accommodating their needs? Are your goals being reached? Whatever is happening, remember, you are preparing your students for the working world. Please understand that students will not leave your class as the best writers that they can be, just better than they arrived. Create fun assignments that make them excited to come to class. I know you hate technology. Has that changed by the way? Well any-who, you used to hate it. But just because YOU hated it, doesn’t mean it won’t help your students. Get them to make videos for projects, allow them access to more technology. It is important to adapt to your students and education is not just pen and paper anymore. It is videos and slideshows and memes! I know you love memes. Be the exciting and accommodating teacher that you always loved in High School and aspired to be.

Students, and even working adults such as yourself, are constantly improving in their writing. Be proud that you are adding to the foundation of their writing. You are a great teacher, don’t forget that. Continue improving yourself, whether it be in technology or whatever new form of learning there is, so that you can help your students improve as well.

See ya, Future Self

Teaching Digital Writing

People are not born good writers. It takes practice on multiple forms of media.

An audio message to my future students:

 

Fun and Entertaining Assignment for My Future Students Involving Technology:

Assignment Name: Hollywood and the Canterbury Tales

Instructions: Get in small groups and choose your favorite scene from the stories we have read in “The Canterbury Tales”. Modernize that scene and make a video of you and your partners acting out the scene. Be sure to print out a script to turn in and email a copy of the video to me at ms.eppersonisawesome@randomhighschool.com.

Purpose: To provide a contemporary way to relay the text to the students and prove that students understand the text.

This assignment incorporates reading classic literature and modern technology, allowing students to better understand the course material.

Wax Museum

Educators often stick to the same routine for their curriculum. When something works, why change it? The problem is that children change over the years and what once produced amazing grades and learning opportunities, does not work anymore. Children need more engaging activities and projects that allows them to produce creative and educational work that they can learn from. I chose this meme because I thought that it was funny and a good representation of new teachers versus “seasoned” teachers in the classroom.

A “Wax Museum” is when students dress and act like historical figures and other students can guess who it is and learn this new information. The students can also write mini research papers that can accompany their character so that they can have something for reference and an actual hard copy assignment to turn in for the projects. Compromise is key when transitioning from one teaching style to another, but it must be remembered that this is for the good of the students and their education, which is every teachers priority.