There are many things that I believe need to happen in order for there to be effective learning in my future classroom.
I believe that as a teacher I have to model a good reading and writing life. The only way I can do this is by sharing my reading and writing experiences with my class. Sharing my reading and writing experience is a good way to showcase that we are all still working on becoming better writers. I will encourage my students to read daily by setting aside time in class just for reading. I will also set aside time in class for my students to write. Another thing that I think is important is that they let each other know what they are reading. We will have book talks in which my students and I will share what we are reading and suggest it to others.
I believe that reading is cool. Reading can sometimes be seen as a ‘nerdy’ thing to do. I want to break this stereotype within my classroom. I want my students to see how fun reading can be. This will not be accomplished by me forcing them to read the classics (although there are some great ones I will suggest). Instead I will encourage my students to read about things that interest them. If we are all reading it will become much more ‘normal.’
I believe that all my students have the ability to be great. Everyone is good at something. As a teacher I want to help my students discover who they are. I want to help them find their passions. Help them to see that they are great at something. My students might not be the fastest readers or get all their commas in the right places but what I care about most is that they are improving and growing into great people.
I believe that my classroom needs to nurture growth and normalize failure. I want my students to realize that they will not be judged for their ideas and that it is okay to fail. The only way to grow is to first find the ways things do not work for you. I will fail to and from that I can learn more about myself. I will share my failures with my class.
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” ~Thomas Edison
I believe that together we can learn amazing things. Each and everyday will be a new opportunity to learn something new, for my class and me. I will learn from them and I hope they learn from me.
Mackenzie Watson 
I think that this article is really good. I really enjoyed it. It is a great way to teach I think. I hated reading and writing because I was bad at it and forced to do a lot of reading and writing things I did not want to do. But if I were in your class, I think I would be a lot more open to enjoying these things. Good job. I like your ideas.
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I absolutely love how you said it is okay to fail and that is totally true, you have to fail to learn new things. Some of the most successful people in history have failed over and over in their lives but that is what makes them a better person and to learn from their mistakes.
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I really enjoyed this post. Your thoughts about failure really resonated with me. Even though I’m a perfectionist, in the classroom I give myself permission to experiment, explore, play, and definitely fail. And since I’m constantly experimenting, I fail often. I try to make myself process those failures out loud with my students in methods courses, though it’s not always pleasant to reflect publicly on our failures!
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