For a teacher to make a true difference in the lives of students, we must be willing to change, adapt, and modify what we do in our classroom for every learner. To be able to effectively do such things we must be willing to continue to better our teaching and ourselves through professional development, staying informed on current best-practice, and researching better ways to teach. We must then critically look at this information and our teaching to find ways to adapt these findings to benefit our student needs and evaluate its success. It is our job as educators to never cease in learning.
I have always loved reading and writing and if I give my students a chance to choose what they want to read and write about, I am far more likely to have students engaged in these practices and learning. I plan to always offer choice whenever applicable in both reading and writing. I have become increasingly interested in both the writing and reading workshop methods as these both focus on students having a say with what they do by choosing books or their own topics. Through this I have learned that choice is a free tool that will engage even my reluctant learners.
Informing students can also be beneficial for those that are reluctant or have a difficult time committing to a task for long periods of time. Given students a chance to know what they will be doing, learning, or how long an activity will be can give these students the chance to temporarily devote their time a demanding task. By informing them we are giving them an insight to what they must do in order to be successful learners, being honest with our students, and giving students the respect of including them.
In order to be successful, we must be informed and given a chance to choose what we as readers and writers will be doing even as adults. Seeing how choice and information can impact learning has made me realize how much better I am able to perform as a reader, writer, and teacher I am aware and have an ability to make decisions about what I must do. Information is power and choice can be vital for students and teachers in the process of reading and writing. I want to give these same opportunities to my students.