The reading Time Management and Student Ownership by Chris Peek and Angela Wainright was really interesting to me for multiple reasons. I have struggled recently with the feeling of “I don’t know enough about history, how could I possibly teach students?!” and this reading helped to bring some perspective to me and this feeling. Peek and Wainwright brought up some really great points but the things that stood out to me the most were quotes about the “teachers’ belief that they must be experts on all facets of their subject.” and “Telling a student ‘I don’t know’ is a great teachable moment.” Being able to say “I don’t know” is something that I am definitely going to have to learn how to do as a teacher. Right now I am exactly the type of teacher that Wainright and Peek are speaking about, someone who tries to learn everything there is to know about the subject and that’s just not possible. This reading really helped me to grasp that concept and realize that I need to be okay with not knowing everything right now.
Raymond Jones’ article The Architecture of Learning goes along really well with the reading from Peek and Wainright. In his article, Jones talks about the process of learning and what we should expect from students before, during, and after learning something new. Jones explains that before students learn something new they must be introduced to the new idea, skill, or information before we send them diving headfirst into it. After students have been introduced to and have explored the new topic we must give them some sort of follow up application for what they have just learned. This made me think back to when I was in school and I realize that the things I remember the most from any subject are the things that my teachers took time to introduce slowly, build upon, and followed up with an application of the new topic/skill/idea. This connected for me just how important Jones’ techniques and recommendations are when it comes to teaching and learning.