What do I think?

Education is like a garden.

A garden is an area that needs to be nurtured and cared for in order to be successful. The same goes for a student's education. Students need to be cared for and nurtured the same way a garden does. You need certain tools and resources to maintain a garden. The same goes for teachers. As a teacher you need to have give your students the tools and resources to learn at their full potential. A garden is filled with many different plants, each one extremely different from the other. In a classroom you will never find a student who is exactly like another, they will not learn the same, act the same nor come from the same place. Since each plant is different in the garden they need to be cared for differently. Every student has individual needs that need to be focused on along with the group as a whole. In order for your garden to be successful you need spend time with it, figure out which plant needs more water or less sunlight to grow to its full potential. In the classroom you need to interact with your students and get to know them so you can really help set them up for success. In a garden you need to plan for the unexpected just like in the classroom. In the classroom you can never plan for everything 100% accurately. You can never account for the constant rain for weeks during the spring that leads to flooding the roots of the garden. In the classroom you need to learn to be flexible and try to plan for the unexpected as much as possible. Things are always changing and you must be prepared for lessons not to go as planned, for children to be bored and for terrible behavior problems. Education relates to a garden in so many ways, and represents an accurate representation of the caring each individual student needs along with the group as a whole.

The class has taught me many aspects of education and inspired me in many ways. I learned that I was a Humanist. I believe that success comes from within and every child has potential. This gives me a better idea of where I stand in the education world and where my pedagogy comes from. I learned that I need to focus on the whole child. There is so much potential in children, they just need the right teachers for them to get everything out of their education. Another thing I learned is that blogging can be very beneficial to the educators in the world. I have now looked at blogs at least once a week relating to curriculum ideas, teaching methods and different pedagogy's. I enjoy broadening my view on education and reading different teachers ideas and methods in the classroom. I am always looking to change up the way I teach and improve. Teaching is a never ending learning experience and is why I love my profession. I am constantly learning and increasing my own skills.