Research has always been a word that I hated. It just seems like a lot of work to find articles that back up what you’re saying. However, I am pleased to say that I found this research quite interesting. Surprisingly, finding the articles were kind of fun and they were relatively easy to find. Not to mention, I had the opportunity to implement what I was learning and researching with my tutee. I would say that this project has changed my mind about research. While it is not my favorite thing in the world, it is not something I hate anymore.
Aside from the research, I am grateful for the Partnership experience for allowing me to work with my tutee. Prior to this experience, I really didn’t understand how to actually implement literacy instruction. While there are some things I need to work on, specifically my instruction for word study, I have learned that I think I know what I am doing when it comes to teaching comprehension strategies. At the beginning, I was also confused as to what writing instruction looked like, but after the writing workshop, it helped give me an understanding as well as gave me a clearer idea on how to help my tutee.
Last year, I learned the importance of taking notes about your students as a way to monitor their growth and understanding. Personally, I have a good memory and so I am not a big fan of doing that. However, I realized with every class this semester, the benefit of keeping notes because as a teacher, so many things happen in a day and you’ll forget what you wanted no matter how good your memory is. Also, the students deserve a teacher that is well-informed about how things are going. As I continue on my teacher as a researcher journey, I will take better notes and constantly think of ways that will best serve my students.
This experience has also helped me tremendously. Admittedly, comprehension has always been tough for me. However, after I went over strategies and skills with my tutee, I noticed improvement of my own. Also, as a writer, I am still working on it, but I learned that I have to practice what I teach. I gave my tutee a journal and she carried that thing EVERYWHERE and was always writing in it because I told her how important it is, but I didn’t do any free writes except for when I was with her. However, I also learned ways to improve my writing because of it. Overall, this has been beneficial for me not only in the sense of skills, but also my confidence as a teacher.
I still have a lot to learn, but part of being a teacher is learning from your students. I am certain that there will be issues in my class that I will be curious about, and that will drive my to another research question. Overall, this was a fun and valuable experience.